Heart Bonds
by EdithType
Summary: It all started an idle Tuesday. They were supposed to be the ones taking CADMUS down, but things were all the opposite; now Kara and Alex had to stay alive for the sake of the other one. There was no useful reason for them to be kept there, apart from revenge on both.
1. Chapter 1: Surreal

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 1: Surreal

* * *

 _-Present time-_

Surreal…

Shadows of bodies were moving around her; it made her feel sick. Her sight was blinded by white lights from the roof, DEO's lights; it was annoying.

"KARA!" She yelled between gasps in an ocean of blurred words like _Loss… Bleeding… Pressure… Contain…_

Her body was complaining against her will of standing up and reaching her sister. Multiple hands keeping her in place. They could hold her limbs, but not her neck, so even while lying on a gurney, she looked to the right, finally focusing another gurney. Men and women running in every direction, each of them with the goal of helping the woman on it. In between bodies she saw Kara's bloodied face, a tube already in her mouth; her sister's left hand hanging from the side of the gurney. She stretched her right arm aiming to grab it, and as she did, pain filled her shoulder, reminding her of the gunshot on it; warm blood pouring out of the hole.

"Agent! Stay still!" She heard someone at the same time a needle was inserted in her left arm; an IV had been placed.

"Alex! Alex… It's ok sweetheart…" That was her dad's voice.

She took a quick look at him, his eyes concerned above her; but she wasn't the one needing attention. _Kara…_ Her eyes traveled to her sister again. Why wasn't her replying to her voice? Kara always woke up when she called her by her name. "Kara!" She called her one more time. Stretching her arm once again, opening her hand as wide as she could, ignoring the pain. "Kara! Say something!"

"Alex!" Jeremiah took her arm, and put it beside her torso to allow doctors to treat the wound.

"No…"

 _It's collapsing!_ Said a nurse attending her sister. Then she spotted her mother helping Kara, her mom's hands covered in blood. Why were the gloves of everyone around her little sister, covered in blood?

Alex pushed herself up again, but hands stopped her.

"Let me go!" She fought against her own team members.

"Alex! Calm down…" Jeremiah's hands were cupping her face.

Calm down? She didn't care about anyone else in that moment. Alex couldn't know what it was, but as they put pressure on her wounded shoulder, black dots surrounded everything, and a flashback came to her. Kara was jumping after her, it was a few months after her arrival to Midvale; both racing on jumping balls, Kara still had that picture at her apartment.

"Kara…" She whispered when the black dots disappeared, but it didn't last long, because a memory of a fifteen years old Kara feeding seagulls at the beach replaced the white lights. "Let me…" She coughed, and then started hyperventilating.

"Breathe, Alex…" Her father kept asking her to stay calmed.

"No…" She struggled, eyes shut in pain. "No. Let me go…" And she pictured Kara blowing candles in her second Earth birthday; then panic overwhelmed her when the picture transformed into Henshaw violently punching her defenseless sister moments before they were rescued that same morning. "STOP!" She yelled at the memory.

"Alex!" Her dad called her, but she was somewhere else.

Horrible memories; blood drops splashing the ground in front of her and her own face… blonde hair moving in every direction as Kara was dragged, slammed, kicked, then punched over and over again.

"GET OFF HER!" Her body shook to free itself from whoever was trying to keep her on that gurney. Her attempt failed, because she was only able to move her head to Kara; noticing the dry blood on her bruised skin and on a side of her messy blonde hair. "KARA! KARA! KARA! KAR…" Her voice was cut when more pressure was applied on her shoulder.

Alex started to feel dizzy, blood loss and fatigue taking control of her body.

"Please…" She begged to be released; to be taken closer to Kara.

She could not remember how exactly things happened; she only knew they were on gurneys because of her; she had been a bait.

"Please…" She felt helpless and warm tears started to stream down her face. The same impotence feeling she had while being captured, while watching her sister beaten to death emerged once again to torture her; and it wasn't a physical pain, it was much worse.

Another kick on her sister came to her mind, making her flinch at the memory.

 _"J'ONN!"_ She screamed in thoughts to replace those memories; she went after the last resource she had, the only one who could help her through it, the only one who could give her space on that gurney by giving an order, or tell her how Kara was since he was standing close to the her sister. When she noticed J'onn's eyes on her, it was a confirmation her mental help request had been heard; however, any sign of hope faded away when the Martian's eyes looked defeated to the ground and the only reply she had in her mind was silence.

 _Levels down!... We're losing her!_

A flat sound overlapped the rest of voices. Her memory tortured her one last time with the sight of Kara smiling at her on the other side of the glass after stopping the ship with Cadmus prisoners. Her sister was dying next to her, and she was useless. Every frustration came out as she screamed in anger.

Her eyelids were heavy, noises started to be distant. Confusion was not the exact word to describe her perception of time and space. She looked at Jeremiah; it was like watching a muted movie. Maybe this was the nightmare and she was about to wake up. She wished that was the case; perhaps it was just a bad dream and she would wake up cuddling next to Kara when both fell asleep during their sister's night. _Please be there._ It had to be like that… it had to, because this was surreal…

TBC...

* * *

 _Hi there! Thanks a lot for reading it! The thing is, when writing fanfiction, usually a scene comes to my mind, then I come up with the story of it; but truth is, I never really have a clear story before typing it. I don't wanna leave it just like that, thus yup, I'll continue with this; I do have a few ideas, but if you also have a theory of how our invincible Danvers sisters got to be both on gurneys, feel free to let me know about it!_

 _By the way! I promise there won't be broken hearts with this one, it's angst yes (cause that's what I love writing muahaha… you've been warned) but I caused enough sadness with my previous fic JUSTICE DONE; so don't worry, you'll be smiling at the end of this one. Cheers! (And sorry for the Karamel shippers, I totally dislike the character, so he will be mostly absent in my story)._


	2. Chapter 2: Justice

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 2: Justice

* * *

 _-Tuesday night-_

"Sorry! There was a long line ahead…" What had been a quick fly back home that evening, became the most shocking surprise Supergirl had ever had.

Kara dropped the potstickers bag, frozen at the scene. Of course Lillian Luthor was not gonna stop chasing after her and her cousin, but this…

Seated in the center of the couch, cross-legged, the head of Cadmus had both arms spread on cushions. Henshaw standing on her right, a guard on her left, and right behind her, a second guard holding and removing a hunting dart from the neck of an unconscious Alex.

The volume from the TV was high to cover loud noises in there. The older woman was perfectly aware of her superhearing; thus it wasn't a problem to detect her voice when she spoke.

"Good evening" greeted Luthor.

Kara's eyes were still on her sister; every muscle in her body in tension. Scanning the guard now pressing his gun on Alex's temple.

"Where are your manners, Supergirl?" Lillian asked as if offended. "It's not a good idea to have a big window open when you're not at home; there might be, thieves, stalkers or… snipers out there."

"Let her go."

Lillian ignored her. "Specially when you're registered with the DEO and their files got stolen." She sighed, changing her posture. "My apology. Seems like I spoiled your party." Her gaze focused on the pizza and cups on the table in front of her.

"I said let her go."

Henshaw stepped forward but was immediately stopped by Lillian's right hand gesture.

"Or what? I don't think you are in the best position to negotiate, Kara Danvers." Her features hardened. "You know, it all made sense. Jeremiah joining the DEO, his daughter who happened to be recruited by the DEO as well; both risking their lives for what? Because of an alien. And not any alien… No, it had to be a 'super' one who now has turned my child against me. Will you make her life miserable as your cousin did with Lex?"

"They have nothing to do with this. Neither Alex or Lena…"

"I happen to disagree with you on that, Miss Danvers; they have everything to do with this. With you, with me, the DEO, Cadmus… it's a small world."

"What do you want?"

"Justice."

"You call this 'justice'?"

"In my own way, yes."

"What did you do to her?"

Lillian followed Supergirl's gaze, not taking for granted the alien was alert to any chance of saving her sister, any distraction.

"She's fine, just sedated. We shot her at distance."

"Leave her out if this, it's me you're looking for." Her hands were sweating, but she closed them to control her anxiety. "Tell me what you want."

"I already have what I want, I only need you to come with us now."

"I will, but Alex stays…" The trap worked. The TV hadn't been used just to cover up noises coming from the apartment, but also noises from outside and before Kara could react; when an air ripping sound reached her ears, she also felt a pinch in the left side of her neck and her sense of gravity vanished.

…

Alex was the first one to wake up. She opened her eyes but her body did not respond immediately. Her eyes moved to what she could see while lying on her left side. Metal bars were in front of her and an intense red light blinding her vision for an instant; eventually she was able to focus properly. The first image across the bars was a human shape; once everything was clear enough, she saw what looked like a ginger head under the light, except the shape was wearing a familiar suit; it wasn't ginger, it was blonde hair.

"S-Supergirl…" Movement came back and her senses reacted. She pushed herself into a sitting position.

Alex paid attention to her surroundings, analyzing the cells containing her and the other one with Kara inside; it seemed like the same kind of cells Kara had described after escaping from Cadmus with Mon-El. Looking at the top of Kara's, she could finally see the source of the light. _The Red Sun._ Or a simulation of it.

"Supergirl?" Kara did not respond. "Supergirl?" She tried again, louder this time.

A headache forced her to take her right hand to her forehead; as her hand went up, it touched something on her neck. A heavy collar.

"Alex." Supergirl's low voice brought her back to her sister.

"Hey…" she approached the bars between their cells. "Are you ok?"

Kara struggled a little bit until she was able to make slow movements.

"Are you hurt?" Asked Alex.

"Are you?"

"I asked first."

"I'm fine." Kara's voice sounded clearer. She sat up too, but dizziness made her stumble a bit, regaining balance supporting on her left elbow before hitting the ground. "Just weak."

"I'm ok too, just a headache. You feeling weak…" she looked up. "That's probably because…"

"The Red Sun…" Kara's head looked above her, placing a hand to cover her eyes under the intensity of the red light.

"What happened? I was at your place…" The older sister asked confused. However, Kara's exposed neck while looking up allowed Alex to see a necklace on the Kryptonian's neck too. A few fluorescent green dots around it at sight. "You have a collar too."

Kara's eyes placed on her sister, then on her neck, surrounded with a bold completely black collar. Her hand automatically touching hers, she grabbed it to try to pull it…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Lillian Luthor came from behind them, a screen in her hands; accompanied by a heels rhythmic sound.

"Supergirl, this is a déjà vu."

"What are we doing here?" Alex stood up, standing as close to the woman as she could; commanding an answer out of her.

"We meet again, Alexandra." She greeted. "I hope you both are comfortable here, we'll spend some time together."

"Why are you keeping us here?" Alex asked again but the Luthor walked towards Kara's cell.

"We've played a similar game before, haven't we, Kara?"

"How do you…" Alex moved closer to Kara. Lillian looked at her.

"Maybe it wasn't the best idea to register your sister with the DEO; neither trusting your father…" The woman put some distance between her and the cells. "You'll see Alex, if I'm being honest, it was not that difficult. Getting to you."

"It's me you have issues with, not her." By supporting on the bars, Kara stood up closer to Lillian.

"Kara…"

"You're right on that, you're a plague I'll get rid off soon; Alexandra, on the other side, possesses valuable information. Therefore, both of you are useful temporarily."

"What…"

"DEO's intel." Cleared Lillian.

"You will not get that from me."

"Of course. I'm counting with that."

The moment Lillian closed her mouth and tapped the screen, Kara screamed in pain; her legs giving in under her weight, collapsing on the ground.

"Kara!" Alex rushed to the bars between them. When her sister's head went back, she spotted a green dot from the collar off, in its place green lines under her skin, kryptonite traveling through her veins. "Stop! Stop it!" She kneeled to Kara's level. "Stop it!"

Those were agonizing minutes of Kara's screams drilling her ears.

"I'm o…kay." Supergirl mumbled still whimpering a bit when pain slowed. Alex's hand was inside her cell, wide open, inviting her to take it, and Kara's trembling hand reached it.

"What did you do to her?!" Asked a furious Alex, throwing a deathly gaze to the head of Cadmus.

Lillian kept a serene posture, facing an angry agent. Absolutely indifferent to the gasping woman in the other cell.

"My curiosity to understand Supergirl's relationship with the DEO took me to you, Alexandra." She started to walk side to side. "From every agent, both of you were always at the scene, staying close, looking after the other one; whenever you were in trouble, Supergirl would leave everything behind to make sure you were safe; or the other way around as it happened when you fought Metallo; also the ship with our prisoners, and I do have a list but we don't have all day, do we? I'm a scientist and as you know, that's what I do, watch my subjects closely."

"Don't hurt Alex as you did with Mon-El." Kara said, sitting again, leaning on the bars next to Alex's cell.

"I'm concerned that won't be easy. I need that intel from Alexandra. With or without you, Kryptonian, I could have taken care of getting it from her at any cost; but everything got to be more enjoyable when she happened to be your beloved sister. Alex has been the most effective way to you, Kara."

"Let Kara go. You can do anything to me."

"Now, we are getting awkwardly emotional. Your intel is not the only thing I need, Agent Danvers. I need to test a few compounds against Kryptonians and I need a rat as your scientist mind will understand."

"You can't treat her like that." Alex released Kara's hand and stood up facing Lillian on the other side of the bars.

"I do. You're Supergirl's Achilles heel, Alexandra; not her cousin, not your parents or her friends, but YOU. I could kill the others and she would get on with it, but YOU are a different story, and I need Kara to cooperate."

If not because of the cell, Alex would have tackled down those cold eyes in front of her. In her mind ran plenty of tactics of how to destroy that woman, but Lillian stood there, calmed, as if seeing through her.

"You see those green dots on her neck?" The question taking Alex out of her anger state, replacing it with fear. "Kryptonite; nevertherless it's of our own creation. We took some leftovers of it from the wreckage after Metallo exploded. We are developing our Krytonite, the problem is it's not strong enough to have the same effects of the original; thus we were in the need of intervening it. Remember the medusa virus? My child might have neutralized it by switching compounds, but the virus itself was duplicated thanks to what we got from the Fortress, but instead of targeting every alien except Kryptonians, we're reversing that. And that," she pointed Kara's collar "is the result. Synthetic kryptonite reinforced with our developed virus, to have a similar effect to what the pure mineral would have. That collar contains amounts of different variations of our kryptonite, if I command it, a needle comes out of it from its inner side, injecting the substance in Supergirl's body; each dot is one and now we're missing the last one used. Which reminds me… KC-A tested." She took note on her screen. "After watching her reaction, it's pleasant to know it works. By the time I have the right compound, I would not even bother creating soldiers to fight Superman, I'll just release my Kryptonite in the air, and that's it. Clean and simple. I only need to find and study the one that causes more damage on your sister. I can always slow the process if you give me what I want, Alexandra. Otherwise, she might not last long, because the virus itself is already in her system."

Under the red light it was hard notice, but it was true, Kara's skin was loosing color and her breathing seemed to be a bit labored. Alex knew she needed to buy them time.

Supergirl grabbed her collar.

"I already warned you about that, Supergirl." Lillian raised her left eyebrow. "Try to pull it and all the needles will be inside you before it breaks."

"Stop it, Kara." Alex was now beside her, her hand on top of the one Kara had on the collar. "What intel are you talking about?"

"Don't, Alex…" Kara shook her head.

"Indigo." Replied Lillian Luthor.

"What's Indigo?" Kara asked about it, when Alex stayed silent.

Lillian smiled in surprise looking from one of them to the other one. "I'm surprised you collaborate directly with the Director of DEO, yet, they haven't told you what Indigo is."

"Alex?" Kara turned to look at her sister, but the Luthor was thrilled to answer her question.

"It's a line of characters that works as a command to access control over the DEO's operations in case of an emergency. Its locations throughout the country, and prison containment. Only a few most trusted elements from the DEO know the code, and considering your status inside the Department, Agent Danvers, you can provide it to me. The irony in carrying such honor, is you made a vow of dying to protect the code if necessary."

Alex's mind was suddenly empty. She could not risk Kara, she could not risk the DEO security protocol either. She felt Kara's gaze on her and when she looked at it, something ripped her heart; because there was determination in them, an unsaid _"Don't give it to her."_ And Alex knew the cost of it.

The older sister was unprepared for the sharp pain that overwhelmed her body out of nowhere, she heard Kara yelling at her, yelling at Lillian. She was in shock, the ceiling was her landscape now, but her eyes shut. She felt the way her body rolled trying to ease pain, and the picture of Kara in a similar situation minutes before reached her mind as a reminder that she also had a necklace, but if not kryptonite, what was in it?

Kara's teary eyes searched for anything that could be causing Alex such pain, but found nothing; her x-ray vision neutralized by the red light. Even above her sister's screams, she could hear Lillian, now standing next to her cell, addressing her.

"You're my subject, Supergirl; Alex is my resource. Superman betrayed my son, Jeremiah betrayed Cadmus, Lena betrayed me; in my own way, this what I call justice."

TBC…

* * *

 _Thank you guys! My apology for not replying to your reviews yet! I truly appreciated each of them, they completely encourage me to continue this story. Life is really interesting right now, thus I preferred to take the chance to finish this chapter and posting it; but I promise I'll reply to your reviews having the chance to._


	3. Chapter 3: Code

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 3: Code

* * *

"The code, Alex."

Lillian Luthor was seated on a chair enjoying the show in both cells. Alexandra Danvers kneeled, her hands inside the cell next to hers, caressing Kara's hair; the shuddering Kryptonian kept mumbling _"No"_ many times to the agent between spasms while tightening her body to resist the green liquid flowing under her skin.

"No…" The blonde woman said. Forehead damped in sweat, her eyes closed, tears trails on both sides of her face. "Don't g-g-give her any…thing."

Alex was trained to go through torture, but not to witness it; even less to witness her sister being tortured. Taking short deep breaths, she squeezed her eyes, clenching her teeth to suppress a furious scream. How long had they been in there? After the pain Lillian inflicted in her, she had a brief moment of consciousness before her body gave in. Alex had counted the green dots around Kara's neck, they were seven, four had been already used; Kara looking worse after each. Pale, covered in sweat, her breathing quivering and it seemed to hurt; her little sister was keeping a hard face trying to disguise her suffering, but Alex knew when someone was in a bad shape by reading body. Every time after pain had eased, Kara had used all strength she had to sit up. It was harder for her to sit up this time. This was the result after only four doses of kryptonite; she couldn't know if Kara would be able to resist all of them, and the simulated Red Sun had Kara's defenses down.

"Kara…" She almost pleaded.

"I've got t-this."

"Are you willing to watch her die slowly and painfully, Alexandra?" The woman on the chair got her attention. "Perhaps we're not that different after all."

"You bitch…" Alex spat full of hate, pure anger in her voice.

"Finally!" Lillian left her spot with amusement. "The real Alex Danvers shows up."

In a fast move, Alex stood up to stand right in front of Lillian, grabbing the bars in her way. Her reaction showed a brief second of a hesitant Lillian Luthor, who gave an almost unseen step backwards. "You want the code?! The come and take it from me!"

With arrogance, the old woman side-smiled at her, regaining her posture.

"I could physically torn you apart, Alexandra; yet, you wouldn't give it up. I told you I need my subject for tests, vengeance… and as motivation. The collar you have is only an emergency button in case we need to control you, and as I said, you're Supergirl's motivation too. What a lovely relationship you have."

"What does this thing do to me?" The agent asked pointing to her neck.

"It's tied up to your nervous system. I dislike blood on my floor, therefore I designed that device to force traitors to spill out truth. In your case, let's say it's my dog shock collar."

A guard came into the room approaching to notify Lillian something in her ear.

"Excuse me." Were the only two words she said before exiting the place.

Alex had wasted not time analyzing the vigilance protocol on them. Since both had been welcomed there, they were barely left alone, so she knew in a few couple of minutes someone would come to cover Lillian. She had to think about something to take the two of them out of there; Kara's condition was worsening, thus the sooner the better.

"We need a plan…" Kara's whispering words seemed to have heard her thoughts.

Supergirl was seated against the bars separating their cells, doing an effort to breath properly, but her eyes were tired and glassy.

"I do have one, Kara." She got closer to her sister. "It's… a crazy one, but is the only chance I can see right now. J'onn must be looking for us, but I need to let them know we're here, somehow."

"Crazy is g-good." Kara smiled at her, passing her trembling hand across bars to grab Alex's tight fist; it was a weak gesture, but it relaxed Alex and warmed her enough to keep her focused; that was her real motivation, and she would do whatever she had to in order to protect that smile.

The moment was interrupted when the door to the room was opened behind Alex. She heard more than individual steps, and when she turned around, she saw Lillian followed by Henshaw, and three guards.

"Supergirl, I need you to do something for me."

Kara's cell was opened by one of the guards. By instinct, Alex passed her arms to her cell, wrapping her sister's torso in a protective way.

"You know what will happen if you don't let go, Alexandra."

"Alex…" Kara padded her arm, telling her to let go.

"No way I'm leaving you in their…" Her body shook and a gasping scream was forced from her lungs, but her arms stayed in place.

"Alex!" Kara pleaded.

The intensity increased and it burned. She never felt that kind of pain before, it went from head to toes; she even discovered new areas of her body that could hurt. Alex stayed strong, doing the best she could to contain the dagger she felt trough her torso.

"Alex!"

"No!" She replied to Kara.

Seeing this, Lillian nodded to Henshaw, who opened Alex's cell.

"NO!" The agent yelled when strong arms ripped her embrace on Kara; pulling her away from her.

Henshaw pulled her back, then fully slammed her against the same bars, keeping her there. Kara was too weak to fight and two of the guards were holding her from both sides; one of them pulling her blonde hair back to make her look up. The pain in Alex's body was gone, but she felt her limbs strangely limp; however, she took mental note of the faces of each guard.

Lillian had a container the size of a cup in which the so familiar brightness of kryptonite was in; but out of it came a wire tube, finishing in what looked like an oxygen mask… of course Alex knew what it meant.

"Don't do it Kar…" She cried out when Henshaw twisted her wrist against her back, close to a breaking point.

"No! Stop!" The Kryptonian tried to move away from her holders.

"KC-D has had a stronger effect on you; I need to know if it will work once it is in the air." She picked the mask. "This is the plan Kara; I will turn off the red light to guarantee it will work on a Kryptonian's in normal condition. If you try anything stupid; Alex dies. Do you understand?"

Kara looked at Alex, Henshaw, then at the mask.

"I need you to inhale it." Cleared Lillian.

"Don't do it!" Henshaw's arms pulled her back again to stamp her on the bars one more time.

"I understand!" Kara rushed to answer.

With that, Lillian pressed a button inside her pocket and the light went off. Afterwards, she put the mask on Kara's face, who hesitated for a few seconds in fear.

"Don't breath, Kara." Alex repeated.

"An incentive perhaps? My patience has limits." Lillian looked at Henshaw.

Alex's view was suddenly upside down; it was quick and when she realized what was happening, her back made contact with the cold ground. She reacted in the spot, sending a kick to Henshaw's face and before it made contact, the cyborg grabbed her leg and pulled her to send her flying to the ceiling of the cell, then letting gravity deal with the agent, who fell hard with a thud sound.

"STOP!" Yelled Kara; although she was weak, having the red light off allowed her movements to make the guards holding her stumble a bit.

Henshaw's foot impacted Alex's ribcage. Luckily, nothing cracked yet, but the pain was excruciating for Alex.

"STOP! PLEASE!"

In the edge of desperation, Kara noticed Alex's agony when Henshaw lifted her from the back of her neck and slammed her one last time against the bars between their cells, as a reminder of her disobedience.

"I'll do it! JUST STOP!"

Stunned, Alex heard Kara's words, and she wanted to stop her; but the shock didn't let her. The next thing in the room was her sister uncontrollably coughing. Her eyes wanted to stay closed but she forced them to be opened, a blurry green smoke in the air.

Real horror reached her when Kara stopped making noises. The metal hand on the back of her neck loosening its grip. Once on the ground, Alex crawled to Kara, who was unconscious.

"Kara?" No response. "Kara?" She tried again. Her eyes started to get wet, but then hope came back when she notice Supergirl's chest slightly rising up abnormally, then down.

"I need the code, Alexandra."

Alex turned to look at the woman now standing outside their cells.

"Humans also need a little motivation to take action and protect what's ours."

That being said, the agent understood the meaning behind those words. _The Code… control over locations and…_ That was the plan.

"You wanna release prisoners…"

"No wonder why you're an important member of the DEO, Miss Danvers."

"You're out of your mind."

"The world needs a purge. I only need to trigger it. Humanity needs to see the thread aliens on Earth are."

"Some have tried releasing prisoners before, and the outcome has been the same; the situation has been controlled, the only thing you'll do is risk human lives."

"That's what we aim to do, Cadmus will be there to control the situation. Human lives need to be risked in order to accomplish our final goal. All alien should leave this planet."

"There are good aliens out there."

"Like Superman? Like Supergirl?" Lillian smiled with sarcasm. "For the sake of your so beloved alien, next time I come back, I expect the code." The red light went on. She turned on her heels and left.

A guard would come soon. Kara was still unconscious and Alex needed her for the plan; she would definitely take both out of there, alive. _Lillian needs me alive._ She remembered to herself.

"Kara?" Passing her arm to Kara's cell, she shook her sister a bit. "Kara, can you hear me?" She waited. "Kara please, we have no time… please wake up." Alex leaned her head on the bars. Her whole body was painfully complaining, but she could do this; she knew she could, and she would. Kara was extremely weak but she didn't solar flare, so she only had to deal with the red light to grant them a small advantage. "I need you to listen to me, Kara…"

"Okay…" Alex's head went up and found Kara's exhausted eyes on hers. "I'm a-all ears."

They were a mess, nonetheless, this was probably the only chance they had and as quickly as she could, she spoke to her sister before a guard came to watch over them. She had a plan, and she was determined to make it work.

TBC…

* * *

 _There was the third one! Thank you so much for all of your support! I admit reviews make my day and truly encourage me to keep up with this. To all guest reviews, I wish you had an account so I could reply to your fabulous words, THANK YOU for being so awesome and sharing your thoughts! Lots of love from Mexico! ¡Gracias! (Yup, English is not my mother language, so my apology for grammar mistakes.)_


	4. Chapter 4: Escape

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 4: Escape

* * *

The guard was standing still next to the only door to access the cells room. She felt Kara's concerned eyes on her. Supergirl still had three green dots to go and neither of them knew if she was gonna stand them all; not after the inhaled kryptonite compound which had added to Kara's condition a wheezing sound in her breathing, a raspy voice, and a bleeding nose. They had to get out of there now. Alex admitted she was scared, not only for Kara, but for herself too. If pulling Kara's collar implied the risk of finishing her; by the way it looked, apparently her own shocking collar was designed with the same emergency protocol. Kara could die, and Lillian would be triumphant by obtaining revenge; but if she, Alex Danvers, died, things would be a lot more complicated; because Lillian Luthor needed her for her plan; Cadmus needed her alive. _Enough thinking, Danvers._ She told herself; as for Kara's safety, she had not second thoughts in acting like a suicide if that meant giving her sister a chance to escape.

One last determined glance to Kara. "You know what to do."

Kara nodded, swallowing saliva. "I love you."

Alex's heart was melted by what could be a _Goodbye_ , and for a moment she hesitated; however, she kept her head up, pushed aside melancholy and took those emotions to reinforce her courage. "I love you too." The DEO agent stood up, then grabbed her collar, and pulled.

When Alex's body collapsed, all Kara wanted was to scream her name; she fought against her instincts, because they had agreed not to yell; but to stay silent to avoid more guards being alerted by their pleading screams. Instead, Kara supported herself tightening her grab on the bars, praying Alex would endure whatever pain she was feeling; that was Kara's view, her relentless sister contorting in pain with eyes closed, and a tight jaw attempting to shut herself up.

"Hey! What's going on ever there?"

Kara looked up, and saw the guard walking towards their cells. Alex collapsing from a standing position had worked; now they had his attention. A gasp from Alex brought her eyes back on her sister; who had finally broke the collar, throwing it aside. No control on her anymore. Nevertheless, her body seemed to stay tensed.

"Stop! What are you doing?" The guard was closer now. Of course he had orders to make sure prisoners were ready for the next interrogatory.

The sound of her cell being opened made Alex open her eyes. Damn it hurt. It hurt a lot. Alex quickly tried to regain control on her limbs and she felt electricity still running through her body; her heart beating was irregular, she had to handle it, it was their chance… then she heard it. Steps next to her. _Bingo._ All of her senses focused on a single goal. Her body a mixture of electrical waves and adrenaline.

From Kara's perspective, the guard was about to touch a convulsing prisoner; nonetheless, her sister seemed to be a great performer, because a 'convulsing' woman twisted her body, kicking the man's legs, sending him all the way down. In a second, Alex was on top of him.

The agent briefly shook her hand to let go any remaining shocking wave and crashed her fist on the man's head. Using all combat technique she learned from the DEO, she did a brief scan of her surroundings, noticing the gun in the guard's hand. The man lifted his own waist making her lose balance. Alex rolled to the left bouncing right away and grabbing his wrist to avoid a shooting gun. Twisting his arm, the gun was sent out of reach for either of them. Her elbow impacted his nose, using her knee to hit between his legs, and the guard curled on himself, Alex's knee welcoming him again, but on his face this time. He was furious now; out of nowhere, he had another gun, smaller, but still a gun; Alex pushed his arm before he could pull the trigger, a shot in the ceiling and one more straight to the red light emitter. It was not the exact plan, since Alex had planned to submit him first, then open Kara's cell and turning the light off using his control device; maybe not the original plan, but it was something; problem was, she was sure shots could be heard outside that room, and whoever was behind the surveillance camera in the corner, should have sent soldiers instantly.

Kara's cell was still close, and her sister didn't have all day to keep up fighting the man. Shots had been heard; she had to improvise. The light was off and the sensation of strength rising again inside her was almost inexistent; after all, the virus and kryptonite together were doing their job weakening her with or without a Red Sun. _I can handle this._ She didn't solar flare before the red light, there had to be a hint of her powers there, anything would be helpful. She aimed to use her heatvision; it burned her eyelids for a second, her body closing eyes in protest. _C'mon…_ First thing first, saving Alex. She opened them one more time, intense light coming out of them; shortly tough, because her heatvision flickered, but enough to hit the man's chest, whose body was pushed against the cell bars, then limp on the ground.

She was weak, and her powers too; all the same, her ears could barely reach noises outside. They were coming after them, they were close. Her hope was that her body could handle one more shot; she could hit the panel on her cell, then get out of there alongside Alex, but what was she gonna do once they've face more guards? Alex was in a better shape, she could fight, but how many more? The agent was still exhausted… As for herself, she was weak and almost powerless, she would only slow both. It had to be plan B. Now it was her turn to buy them time; her sister was their bet. _Use the shot wisely, Kara._ And having told herself that, she used her last heatvision shot to melt the panel of the front door of the room. An emergency alarm sounding in the background.

"They're coming, Alex!" She spoke as loud as she could.

"I need to get you out of here…" Alex exited her cell, looking after the panel on her sister's cell.

"No, y-you need to get out!"

"Just give me a second…"

"Now Alex!" She coughed; finally, her older sister's attention was on her. "There's no time…"

"I'm not leaving without you…"

"You're n-not." She passed her hand through the bars to wipe away a tear threatening to escape Alex's left eye. "You're going after help, then coming back." Maybe it was a lie, maybe not; because neither of them had a certain answer about the future. She tried to look as convincing as she could. "Go, contact J'onn…"

"Kara…"

"You're running out of time, go!" Using the same hand, she pushed her away from the cell, but Alex took it and kissed its back side.

"I'll be back for you, I promise." Each word ripped Alex's heart as they were said; each one a heavy weight in her soul.

"I know." She gave a quick smile. "Now go!"

Reluctantly, Alex muted her heart to let her rational trained thinking emerge. When the door was opened, the noising alarm woke up her brain to a new level, there was no one she could see; nonetheless, she could hear running steps approaching her position. _Run!_ Sometimes she stumbled, sometimes she lost her breath, but adrenaline gave her fuel to stay in action. A few times she spotted cameras, avoiding their angles as best she could, she knew how a surveillance system worked, she had faced it multiple times in the past during missions; some other times she hid behind armory or desks as guards looked like ants running in every direction. When she got a priceless opportunity, she took advantage of it, knocking a guard down and taking his helmet, radio, and jacket to have better cover under cameras. Alex was going after a safe place where she could use the radio, or somewhere with a computer… anything that could reach the DEO. Amongst her bad time in there, her ayes catched the provisional lab door. Of course they had a computer in there and considering the alarm, all personal should have been evacuated, lab included. Cautiously, she sneaked in; no white coats at sight. She could hack the computer, but Cadmus had to have everything secured and ready to alert them when a crack in the system happened; the radio was her most attractive option, so Alex hid under a desk to try her own hacking skills on a radio. Winn had taught her how to do it; she turned it off, opened the case of the device. She had to make sure it would pick up different frequencies, the DEO's one included. Gracefully and with urgency, she turned the tuning knob, made adjustments with a few wires and the cylinder; she turned it on, and pride boiled inside her when sounds came out of it… she looked after the DEO until she hit it.

"Agent Alexandra Danvers requesting rescue. Over."

No one replied.

The alarm made it harder to listen, but she placed her ear next to the speaker.

She tried again. "Agent Alexandra Danvers requesting rescue. Over."

Alex turned the radio off, then on again.

"Agent Alexandra Danvers requesting rescue. Over."

 _Please… someone…_

 _"Alex?"_

Alex never felt as happy as she did while listening to Winn's voice. A tear escaped her eye and for a second she stopped listening the emergency alarm.

"Winn…"

 _"Alex!"_

"Winn! Track this signal! This is an emergency!"

 _"I'm on it. What happened? Is Kara with you?"_

 _"What's your condition, agent?"_ J'onn's voice felt like warm water flowing inside her.

"We were abducted, questioned, and tortured by Cadmus. Kara's condition is delicate, but I can stay in the field, Sir."

 _"Stay covered, Alex."_ Instructed J'onn.

"I need to go back for her, Sir."

 _"Got it!"_ Cheered Winn.

 _"We're on our way. Both of you hang on."_

Reality hit her after she destroyed the radio and threw it in a cabin trash. Next step was getting out of the lab; she was rushing out of the room when what felt like a knife broke through skin and flesh in her right shoulder. The shooting sound confirmed it hadn't been a blade. She had been shot and suddenly her face was facing the ground. While standing up to run away, the cold tip of a rifle in the back of her neck, froze her in the spot.

…

Blurred figures. Distant sounds. She was cold. Everything had burned for a moment when another kryptonite dose was used, but it seemed even her body got tired of feeling pain and had decided to shut nervous receptors down. Her wish was to give in, to black out; she didn't want anything anymore. If she was going to die anyway, why prolonging it? She won't say a word about Alex escaping, she was not gonna reveal a thing about her cousin, neither from the DEO. Not a word was gonna be forced out of her. Then why extending agony this way? Lillian's hate was something she had never understood; she still didn't though, but damn she could definitely experience it; and it was worth it, because Alex has got her chance.

Henshaw pulled her up by the hair, using his free hand to grab her neck. The already familiar sound of the door sounded in the back. Lillian Luthor took her chin and Kara saw a couple of emotionless blue eyes; a gaze completely different to the one Lena had, and she wondered how Lena managed to grew up with a woman like Lillian looking at her with those cold eyes.

"Look who's back, Supergirl." The Luthor said, using her grab to turn Kara's head towards the door, where a bleeding Alex was forcibly being dragged inside the room by two guards; one of them holding broken pieces of what looked like a destroyed device.

Consciousness was not the best word to describe Kara's state; because things were quiet, then sharping pain would wake her up. The Kryptonian was not in control of her own body; even her own screams and gasps sounded as someone else's. She had to help Alex; her sister was wounded and it was her job to protect her.

"Who did you contact Alexandra?" Asked Lillian with a hard voice.

Lying face down on the floor, a foot pressed Alex's shoulder blade, right on the wound and she couldn't help but scream.

"You really want this for Kara, don't you?"

"No…" Her voice was cut by a kick on her left side. She grunted; fighting the black dots in her vision field. When the dots disappeared, she saw Henshaw punching Kara on the face. A few blood drops splashed on her and the floor. "NO!"

"Did you reach the DEO?!"

Kara was thrown as if she was trash, Henshaw after her, kicking her ribs.

"STOP!"

"Shall we use another dose on her?"

"NO!"

Kara's screams were gonna give her nightmares for a long period; she was sure of that, because each one broke her soul. Guards took her arms to make her stand up, the sudden movement, worsening the wound on her shoulder, from which she felt warm blood trailing down her torso.

"There's one dose left, Alexandra… wanna find out her resistance?"

A knee kicked her stomach and when she faced the bleeding nose man, she realized it was the guard she had taken down first. Alex only cared about the blonde person in the room; above the guard's shoulder; Henshaw was playing with a completely vulnerable Supergirl.

"STOP IT! GET OFF HER!"

She tried to move forward to tackle Henshaw, but she could barely stand on her legs.

"The code and it'll stop."

Kara would never forgive her if she gave it up.

"Stop…"

"The code!"

The guard moved aside to allow Henshaw stand in front of Alex; carrying an unconscious and deathly looking Kara by the cape, as trophy.

"It'll be my pleasure to finish her." He said with a sided-smile.

"This is your last chance to provide the code…"

"Ma'am, DEO's vehicles approaching our location!" Rushed steps entered the room, then left it once the message had been delivered.

The way Lillian looked at Alex was something she would remember until she paid for what she did to Kara. Soldiers and guards started with a definitive evacuation.

The head of Cadmus stood between her and Henshaw carrying Kara. "I'm not leaving this place with empty hands." And she pressed the button to administer the last dose from Kara's collar; who did not even react to the liquid.

Guards grabbing her let her fall.

She and Kara were the only ones left there. She tried to grab her hand, but she couldn't.

The final sound she heard before being rescued was J'onn's voice.

TBC…

* * *

 _You know what happens next. Guys! You're awesome, thank you so much for cheering me up! I wanted to update sooner, but we all know those unexpected events in life, so now here's a long chapter with what hopefully I properly described as 'action'. You always put a smile on my face thank you thank you thank you!_


	5. Chapter 5: Bond

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 5: Bond

* * *

 _-Present time-_

Alex's consciousness bounced multiple times, shadows, different voices, sharping pain, a few times she heard her own voice in raw screams, then black again; she was exhausted, her body had not strength to move; everything felt heavy, too tired to be awake, tired enough to let herself drift in dreams.

 _-Flashback begins._

She had to place a hand on the wall on her left side to keep balance and walk as quietly as possible. Eliza had to stay at work that night, and considering Kara's superhearing, she knew the slightest sound would have an alerted Kara on her feet considering they were the only ones at home. Alex didn't want to get out of bed, but she couldn't sleep that night, plus her stomach was in a hungry state.

Walking down the aisle, she noticed a weak halo coming out beneath the door next to her bedroom, Kara's door.

When she knocked twice just to inform she was coming in, there was not immediate response, so the door was pushed opened only to find an empty room. The light was coming from a small lamp on the bedside table.

"Kara?"

"Up here!" Someone said from the outside; guiding her attention to the window.

Alex knew Kara's favorite spot; the funny thing was that when both used to share a bedroom, that particular place on the rooftop could easily be reached from their window; nonetheless, now each had a room, although it was a longer climbing to the spot from Kara's window, her sister was stubborn and would go anyway.

"Can't sleep either?" Alex asked, getting half of her body out of the window, looking up to the blonde girl's shaped figure thanks to moonlight.

"Nope. So I decided to watch the stars." She looked at the sky, but a cracking sound made her lower her gaze to Alex, who was stepping out of the window. "Hey! What are you doing?" Kara stood up to start descending. "Let me help you…"

"I got it, I got it…" Replied Alex waving a hand to dismiss Kara's help. "Stay there, I'm on my way."

When she finally made it to the top, she found space next to Kara.

"Well… it's past midnight. Happy birthday, Kara." Said Alex, kissing Kara's cheek, doing some tickles on her to make her laugh, which it worked. "Still, you have to wait for your present tomorrow… and wait for a cake too."

"We'll make it with these until tomorrow. Want a cookie?" The Kryptonian offered an opened box.

"Where did you get these?"

Kara shrugged her shoulders "I have my own reserve."

"What?! Where?" Alex rushed to take a couple of cookies, making Kara chuckle. "Do you know how much I like these? It takes a while for the store to get'em back; everyone just jump on them as soon as they arrive the store."

"I know. You remember Jenny?"

"The old woman from Customer Service?" Alex took another cookie.

"Yes. I asked her to let me know when cookies are arriving."

"Mmmm… that's clever; I mean, considering your brain finally got a good idea…"

"Shut up." Kara smiled, gently pushing Alex with her right elbow. That was when the older sister noticed a silver chain coming out of Kara's fist.

"What do you have in there?"

Kara's smile vanished; guilt building inside Alex while thinking she had said something wrong. The blonde girl opened he hand showing the necklace she always wore.

"You took it off… why? You never do."

"I was just… thinking. That's all."

Alex knew it wasn't.

"Liar. You know you can talk to me."

"I know, I…" Alex was staring at her and that meant they would not leave the roof just like that. "I always wanted one back in Krypton;" she stated to explain "but this is… used to be fine jewelry back there. I begged my mom to get one for me… but I was careless at the time, usually in the adventure, playing, jumping, exploring whenever we went out, and a kid carrying such a fine piece wasn't the best idea. Thus my mom promised she would give me one by the time I was old enough to be careful, she promised I would have one for my sixteenth birthday." She took a deep breath, and cleared her throat. "You know… I was the one joining my dad in his trips; we didn't visit uncle Jor-El that often; but the last couple of times we did, I remember him genuinely enthusiastic about exploration, he mentioned Mars in this galaxy, but his real love was for Earth, its natural resources, and conditions. He showed me pictures of it and I was fascinated. I wanted to come and watch the sea, but he explained how, despite advantages, he still had to explore it just to prevent threats." Another smile made Kara's face shine for a second. She looked at the stars above them. "I asked about estimated timing for it to be save for a visit and uncle Jor-El said it was at least three or four years ahead; and… that was the deal with my parents, I would get my own necklace and an expedition to Earth with my dad and uncle Jor-El for what you call my "sweet sixteen."

Both kept silent, because Alex simply didn't know what to respond to that; she was about to say something but Kara continued.

"When my mom gave me this…" she played with her necklace between her fingers. "I didn't really understood the magnitude of what was going on… then I just remember a heat wave pushing my pod before I fell asleep."

She wasn't crying; but that didn't stop her eyes to get wet. To what Kara sighed and shook her head a bit, pretending everything was fine. Except Alex could see it was the opposite.

"My parents kept their promise, they were super ones… I mean they made sure I had both presents today…"

"I'm sorry…" She cut Kara.

"It's fine, Alex, really…"

"I'm truly sorry you're family is not here." She grabbed Kara's hand.

"You are here."

Gratitude. That was the perfect word to describe what Alex saw in her sister's eyes that night. Not sadness, not nostalgia… gratitude. She wanted to say too much, but failed at it, instead, she wrapped Kara in a tight and long hug. A hug that Alex's stomach interrupted.

"Seems someone is still hungry." Happiness was heard in the Kryptonian's voice next to her ear.

"Wanna join me? There's ice cream in the fridge." Brightness came back to Kara.

"Of course! You know I can't deny to that." She put the necklace back on.

"And neither of us is sleepy, so, maybe watch a movie until we fall asleep?"

"Yes, I'd love that."

 _-End of Flashback._

That was the first official Danvers sisters' night they had. It wasn't the first time Alex dreamed about that night; perhaps it was a dream she had because it was a special memory; it was a moment from their past which had strengthened their bond. Whatever it was that brought that memory back, also made her remember the most recent sisters' night, that one where intruders spoiled it. The sweet memory was replaced with images of the events inside Cadmus and Kara's screams tormented her.

"N-NO! STOP!" S…"

"Alex!"

She felt hands on her arms. Were those the guards? She fought back, but more hands added to keeping her in place.

"No!"

"Alex! You're safe!"

"It's us." Said another voice.

"Babe, I need you to calm down…"

Something in that voice relaxed her a bit. Suddenly, her body woke up and pain flowed inside her torso but mostly in her right shoulder; making her cry out.

"Alex, it's me babe." A gentle touch caressed her cheek.

When the agent tried to open her eyes, they flickered under the bright light above her.

"Mags…"

"Yes… let me turn off the light, we still have the a lamp."

As the intense light faded out, she could finally open her eyes. Focusing on a couple of brown eyes on her right side.

"Maggie." Confirmed with a barely audible voice.

"Hey Danvers." Her girlfriend smiled.

Someone else took her left hand.

There he was… Jeremiah Danvers.

"Dad? What are you doing…" She tried to sit up, but pain forced her back on bed.

"No, no, no… stay where you are, sweetie." Eliza came on view; bags under her red eyes revealing a lack of sleep.

"Mom… you're here too."

"Of course I am, Alex." Her mother answered placing a strand of hair behind her daughter's ear.

"We all are." J'onn was standing at her feet.

"What… how… how is that you're here?" A confused Alex, asked her father.

"I was captured after the ship with aliens was launched; however they still needed my work and I found myself at another facility from Cadmus, when I heard comments about what happened not far from National City…" He continued with his speech, but Alex's mind flew away for a few seconds refreshing her memory with each word. "…Someone mentioned Supergirl and I knew it wasn't good. In the middle of chaos I hacked some live surveillance footage from the affected facility and saw…" he gulped. "I saw both my girls lying on the floor. So I took the chance and ran away."

"Agent Schott, Guardian and Mon-El have their eyes everywhere right now, in case Cadmus is looking for you. I know something is on the move." Said the Green Martian to Jeremiah.

"Where's Kara?" Was the only thing Alex really cared about in that very moment.

"Your sister is here." Replied Maggie, moving aside to allow Alex a better view of the solar bed placed not far from hers.

Kara had a better look than before. Al least her face was not contorted in pain, but that didn't mean she was fine, because paleness remained under the yellow light. Supergirl had been cleaned up, only bruises left behind. Alex had seen her sister asleep plenty of times and at sight it was clear, she wasn't sleeping to rest, she was sleeping as result of extreme exhaustion; Kara was unconscious.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days and a half." Replied her mother.

"What?"

"You were drained from nutrients, water, energy, and wounded. Luckily no vital spots were affected by the bullet in your shoulder." She explained.

"Has she woken up already?" The agent gestured referring to Kara.

"No." Replied Hank lowering his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Alex demanded.

"Eliza was able to revert the effect of the Medusa virus last time she assisted my health." Spoke J'onn. "After running tests on Kara, besides amounts of kryptonite we found the virus structured in a different way; it was strong and considered how weakened she was after kryptonite exposure, the virus intensified damage in her systems. Luckily, Jeremiah was here and both him and Eliza divided the virus to a molecular level, which allowed them to create a vaccine. We lost Kara twice these days; first when you arrived; the second time during treatment; but seems it's working, she's stable and sunlight is helping."

"The virus is under control now, sweetheart." Eliza grabbed her shoulder to reassure her statement and calm her daughter when she noticed Alex's heart beating changed according to the monitor. "Her systems are still damaged, but as kryptonite is leaving her body, her condition is improving. She needs to rest now, both of you do."

"I'm fine, mom, really."

"Excuse me." J'onn said. "Seems like something came up." He exited the room.

"Are you hungry?" Asked Maggie.

"If I'm being honest, I'm starving."

"I'll bring you something." After giving Alex a quick kiss on the forehead, Maggie left the room too.

"I'm sorry." Deep sorrow was heard in Alex's voice. "I'm supposed to look after her, and I…"

"No, honey." Eliza took a seat on Alex's bed, caressing her hair backwards and wiping away the couple of tears streaming down her face. "While you were unconscious, J'onn had to read your mind in order to know the magnitude of what happened; he didn't tell us details because he described it as…" Now the scientist's voice broke in the split of a second, "…disturbing; that's how he confirmed about the virus used on Kara and what they were asking from you…"

"If I had bought us more time…" Sobbed Alex.

"You have two broken ribs and a gunshot, sweetheart; stop thinking of what you could've done. You did what you had to do in order to protect orders; you know Kara, she wouldn't let you give up that easily and pay the price."

"Both are definitely made of steel; says the man with a metal arm." Complimented Jeremiah. "I guess it comes with being a Danvers, with being part of the family."

That being mentioned by her father, guilt emerged from a dark corner in Alex's heart to remind her the last time being 'part of the family' had been used in a sentence, because she had used it in a horrible way out of anger and confusion. She had used it on Kara, not to welcome her, but to exclude her. Alex looked around her, Eliza on her right, caressing her cheek, Jeremiah on her left, holding her hand. Her parents were there, beside her, to console her, to say soothing words, to love her; together again. Her family was complete, was it? No. Something… no, someone was missing. _You're either part of the family, or you're not._ She never really apologized for what she said back then. Kara acted as if didn't matter, but it did matter, because they never cleared things. They barely shared time together now, and it wasn't because of having Maggie or Mon-El in their lives; she did notice something changed between them after that; she thought things were better after Kara saved her and the aliens during the exodus created by Cadmus; the thing was, she could not fool herself; Kara spent longer time with Mon-El, Lena Luthor or her job as reporter; whenever the two of them shared time, it was like having an invisible barrier of awkwardness in the middle, because she was an expert in patterns and an uncomfortable Kara had not been unseen in her eyes. Kara was careful to touch her; since when did Kara had to ask permission to touch her? They still hug, kiss, annoy the other one, but it didn't feel like it used to; Kara was careful when being around her since then.

Damn she regretted her words so much, it was even more painful than the kick on the ribs she got. She had Eliza and Jeremiah, but Kara… looking at the bed next to hers, she saw the exact visual explanation of what she unintentionally spat out at her sister… no one caressing Kara's cheek, or holding her hand, no one awaiting for her to wake up, no one seated next to her; the only thing she saw, was a pale, bruised, lonely alien… distant, pushed aside of her family; that was what she said. _You sent me away!_ She remembered Kara complaining against her mother's decision, and she had done something similar, only worse. Alura had no option but to push Kara away; as for her… What was Kara bruised for? To protect humanity? To protect Clark? To protect her? She was bruised to protect those who wanted her to leave Earth; she was bruised to protect a cousin who barely visited her while growing up because he was also busy saving the world; bruised to protect her, a 'sister' who made her feel rejected. The picture of a beated Supergirl being carried by the cape like a piñata came to the surface again. _All Kara wanted was a family…_ and Kara deserved more than that. Far more than that, yet everyone seemed to be doing something else, no one was with her now. Now that she had her family back, it wasn't enough; a missing piece was needed. Irony was that despite not wanting to share a thing with Kara at the very beginning of their relationship; now she was striving to share everything she had with her; she wanted to go recover that missing piece. There were no cells, no bars anymore; Alex wanted to jump out of bed, and now that nothing was an obstacle in her way, she couldn't.

Eliza followed Alex's gaze, realizing it was Kara she was looking at. Whatever that Alex had remembered, made her daughter cover her eyes with the back of her arm as in shame.

"Alex? What's going on, dear?" She gently squeezed her forearm.

"Please… Kara…" She spoke without removing her arm. "Can any of you hold her hand?" She gulped. "She loves that."

Jeremiah was who stood up to sit down next to Kara's bed.

"Alex?" Asked a concerned Eliza.

"I was so angry, mom. I said something horrible to her…" She said with a trembling voice, still covering her eyes.

"Alex…" Eliza took her arm to pull it away of her face so she could look her in the eyes. "Kara loves you, we all do, and whatever you said to her, that won't change. What matters is we're all here now, we have a second chance to start over, and Kara understands the value of that chance better than any of us; I'm sure she'll take the chance to fix things between you two."

"She didn't trust dad when he came back… and I told her she wasn't part of the family. She told me I didn't mean it… but I did." She added remorsefully. "I meant every word; I was completely transparent, as it came to my mind it came out of my mouth; and I said it because at the time I chose blood over love, and that selfish teenager version of me who once blamed Kara for dad's death, came to surface. And when I saw Kara's eyes after what I said, I realized I broke her, and her voice broke too; I sent all those beautiful memories we had to trash, because at the end of the day, nothing good we did together covered the fact that deep down, I was still blaming her for events in the past; and that's what I saw in her eyes, I saw guilt… now I hate myself for what I did…"

"No, Alex…" Soothed her mother.

"I buried that part of me who resented her existence in my life; that Alex who asked 'Why me? Why my family?' Eventually, I understood Kara must have asked the same questions to herself. Kara doesn't deserve someone like me, I am such a horrible person…"

"You are a lovely person, sweetheart." Eliza shushed her, using a tissue to clean up Alex's face. "All regret you feel now, comes out of love. Because even while going through what we all went, you chose to let her in, to look after her, to love her. A part of you was angry and that's normal, Alex; to resent a sudden change is natural in every specie, even more when it changes our surroundings. What is remarkable here is that, hard feelings or not, you decided to not give them importance, because you knew what the real value was, you realized what invaluable means; you decided to give her a family. You know Kara better than any of us and if something is stronger than blood, are bonds with those who we chose to share our lives with. Your sister and you had faced terrible experiences, both are aware of the impact you have had in one another's life. Kara Zor-El and Alexandra Danvers might have come from different planets, and they know how expensive the price has been for them to have what they have; if there's something I've seen in my girls, is to put differences aside, and love, and care, and protect, and support. I know you always asked for a sister, and I'm thankful Alex, so thankful that even if it didn't came from me, you got Kara, difficulties or not, even today, I'm still thankful we got her. It is clear for me you both are thankful too, because you stayed together no matter what, because you know you're stronger together."

"We all are stronger together." Jeremiah spoke from Kara's bed, his hand lovingly placed on her forehead. "We deeply appreciate what having a second chance is" his eyes placed on Kara, "because we're a family, and neither of us can handle losing a family twice."

TBC…

* * *

 _Hello! I'm in a hurry posting this, I'm doing a family trip this weekend but I didn't want to leave it just like that and make you wait a lot cause I won't be able to update until next week; so I thought that before any kicking and punching action mode, there was a moment needed for the family. You're all amazing! Thank you so much! Gotta got! Have an awesome weekend!_


	6. Chapter 6: Blast

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 6: Blast

* * *

When Winn told them something came out, J'onn didn't picture a parade being attacked.

A purple figure crashed against a car, leaving glass shards all around the place. James hated punching these aliens, he had met most of them at the bar. This purple Wuxd he punched was peaceful, and had a clean record. This didn't make sense.

"Careful!" That was Mon-El. On the corner of his eye, a four arms alien was approaching him, but the Daxamite tackled the creature in time.

Another one jumped from a ceiling above them, and James used his shield to punch him in the air.

Cops were evacuating citizens, but people were panicked and children's cries could be heard everywhere. DEO agents were arriving from helicopters and trucks, acting as fast as they could.

A rock-textured alien was about to shot a blue blast out of his mouth but J'onn impacted a fist on his face before it happened. The big alien responded with a fist too, and the next thing J'onn felt was his body crashing on windows in a nearby building.

"Chill man… well, not man…" Mon-El tried to keep the hook he had on the alien's neck. "C'mon who gives you those Jupiter mojitos you love Tiyu?" But the alien had four arms; two around Mon-El's waist, the other two on each leg. Both fell backwards.

"What's wrong dude?!" James tried to talk with a Narvom he played pool with a couple of times in the past. A pink gas came out of the alien's skin and the Guardian had to close his eyes because air was itching.

A girl cried. She was next to her father's unconscious body and Jeremiah didn't hesitate to carry the girl and pull the man until he reached the NCPD personnel.

J'onn flew to take the Narvom down before it attacked a temporarily blinded Guardian. The skinny alien was left unconscious on the ground.

People running in every direction like ants, police officers helping them, paramedics attending the wounded; it was chaos. DEO agents kept shooting aliens. J'onn knew they were in advantage, but he didn't want to hurt any of those aliens. It was out of place none of them would talk or speak out loud about their reasons to act like that. There was something off, they were all different shapes and colors; nevertheless, he realized there was a detail he missed while fighting, a detail which was an actual hint; they all had the same lost gaze.

…

"Wait! Sweetie you need to lay back…"

Her mother's voice woke her up. Words were rushed and there was a tone of concern in each. Eliza never called Jeremiah 'sweetie' that word was only used on her and… _Kara_.

"I wanna help…" Despite tension in the air, listening to that voice cleared her sleepy mind.

"No, you need to rest." Restated her mother.

When Alex finally opened her eyes to immediately focus on the bed next to hers, she saw Eliza's back towards her sister's bed, where Kara was pushing her mother's attempts to put her back in bed. Her sister was already in a sitting position on the edge of solar panels.

"I can help; I know I can." Above her mother's shoulder she noticed Kara leaning back to impulse herself on her feet, but as she did, her face got covered by a grimace of suffering that mixed with a moan. Bruises were almost gone, nonetheless paleness remained tattoed as a scar left from recent events.

"Not yet, Kara." Eliza caressed her hair, putting it off her face to place it behind her right ear. "Look at you, you're still too weak to be on the field."

"What's happening?" Asked Alex, causing Eliza to turn around and face her. Kara's attention was on her and without thinking, Alex let her instincts take control of the situation because all she wanted to do was to make sure Kara was there, awake and safe, she needed to touch her and that implied hugging her sister to assure she wasn't dreaming again; before she knew, her legs were dragging her out of bed. The moment her feet touched the ground, her view twisted as her unresponsive limbs succumbed to gravity making her whole form collapse on the ground, the impact attacking her fractured ribcage and her wounded shoulder; pulling a cry from deep inside her lungs.

"Alex!" Eliza kneeled next to her in less then a second. "What are you doing?"

Stumbling, Kara half kneeled, half fell next to her, willing to offer support.

"Alex, don't…" Kara tried to prevent her from doing rude movements; however her voice was cut when Alex's arms wrapped her and her older sister sobbed.

"You're safe…" Was all Alex could whisper previous to the cracking in her voice. Kara's body was not as warm as it usually was; plus, although she responded to the embrace, her arms shivered a bit; but still, her scent was that one Alex incrusted in her soul, and that part of her soul almost vanished days ago; the agent couldn't even imagine what she would do without it; the fact for her was that, the creator of that piece inside her, was there, not in the best shape, but that part was there, Kara was there, and they were together after everything they had went through. Why did they put themselves in dangerous situations? Their sisterhood was definitely one of a kind. The older sister knew for certain that she could lose her team mates, her friends, her girlfriend, truth was, she could lose her parents too, she had already faced that once, but this alien in her arms, had become the anchor through all worst stages in her life, and if she lost that anchor, she would be lost in the middle of the ocean. In their first years together she might have been assigned the responsibility to take care of this adopted girl who literally fell from the sky; today, she didn't feel forced to, she wanted to, because the only thing… the only who, to which she felt dependent of, was having Kara's presence in her life; she hated being dependent, but this was Kara and that was probably why she loved it too. Her Kryptonian sister was obviously stronger than her, but Alex knew what was hidden under that suit and crest, that girl's broken heart she promised to take care of was her most precious duty; after all, she was a protector, it was her nature, and she was proud of it.

"We both are." Replied Kara in her ear, placing one of her hands on the back of Alex's head and hiding her face in the agent's neck.

"You have no idea how regretful I am for what I said…"

Kara pulled back to look Alex's eyes, still not understanding what she meant. "What are you talking about?"

"What I told you when dad came back, about sides, about you not being part of the family." She kept talking between sobs. "I should've kept my mouth shut, and I can't lie to you and tell you I didn't have the intention to say those words, because a part of me did, and I can't explain how sorry I am and how ashamed that makes me feel."

"No…" Kara closed distance between them one more time. "Please don't feel like that." She caressed Alex's hair. "I'm not mad at your or anything… Being honest with you, if we see things from an outside perspective, it's true. I didn't need x-ray vision to see what I caused in your family, and even when I tried to cover up the situation with alternative scenarios like Jeremiah being taken by the DEO anyway because of his knowledge of Superman, or because of his skills; whatever that made me feel out of guilt…" and this time, fresh tears trailed her cheeks. "Nothing I could think of replaced the fact that it was me who triggered the split in your family. So you had every right to say what you said, and every reason to be angry at me. I understand."

"Kara, sweetie…" Spoke Eliza. "We had this conversation years ago and I reaffirm to you, it wasn't your fault. You didn't land on Earth demanding a family, a home, or any kind of attention, it just happened you got us; the same way as it just happened we got you. Things just happened Kara, and if there is something we've learned from you, is to overcome hard times." She wiped tears from Kara's face. "The three of us value life, we value having a family, and that's why we stayed together." She smiled and added: "And we're talking about three females under the same roof; one a scientist obsessed with order, rules, and logic; in contrast with a second one being rebel and stubborn, and not to mention relentless risking herself and leaving her mother with numerous sleepless nights" she looked at Alex lifting an eyebrow, "and a third one asking about everything, exploring, leaving our fridge empty as food was brought, but strong enough to lift furniture while cleaning the house so she came handy; but most importantly, a sweet girl who took the role of a referee to keep the scientist and her rebel daughter together, to bring them a sense of unity… you didn't split our family, Kara; you made sure we had one, you gave us one."

"You gave me one." Said Kara, pulling both Alex and Eliza in a hug.

"And you'll always be part of it. I want you to." Alex kissed her cheek, then tighten up the hug.

"Aww my girls."

"Mom, you're making it sound weird."

"I'm thankful we're like this."

"But now it sounds cheesy." Complained Alex without releasing any of them.

"Well, this is an upper level of cheesiness." Kara laughed.

"Ok, now this is getting awkward."

"Just enjoy the hug, Alexandra."

"Mom…" Alex pulled out of the hug.

"Ok, ok, ok let's take you back to bed…" Kara started to stand up to cool things.

Supporting on both, Alex climbed back to her spot; surprised for the effort it took her to do so.

"You two stay here, I'll go help…"

"Kara Zor-El you stay here." Commanded Eliza.

"What is happening?" Alex re-took the question from before. Noticing the emptiness of the room. "Where's everyone?"

"There was a parade to celebrate National City's foundation date; but some aliens came out of nowhere and started to attack everybody." Explained Kara.

"How do you…"

"Superhearing." Kara responded to Eliza. "It's been days since Cadmus, my powers are back. I heard everyone talking and leaving the DEO because of an emergency. I can help."

"Is everyone already on the field?" Alex was about to sit up, but her mother sent a warning gaze on her, thus she sighed rolling her eyes and staying in place.

"They are. Agents, J'onn, Mon-El, Guardian joined them too, Jeremiah as well, and Maggie was called into action by the NCPD."

"Aliens we didn't know about?"

"That's the issue, we know each of them; all from the alien registry. Many of them never showed violence before, suddenly they're killing people."

"Cadmus must be behind it."

"I agree. After all, they stole it."

"You should rest, Kara." Eliza grabbed her arm.

"She won't listen to you, mom. I'm not the only badass in the family. I've seen that face many times and she'll fly soon."

Kara blushed at Alex's comment, but shook her head right away.

"You look pale, sweetie; you're not ready yet."

"If the situation is bigger than what I can handle now, I promise I'll come back."

"Ahem… liar." Said Alex from her bed.

"Ahem… you're just jealous because you can't join me now; if you could, we both would already be there." Cleared Kara, lifting her index finger.

"Well, that's true…"

"I'm serious, Kara." Eliza's eyes stuck in hers with authority.

"I promise I'll be back… for real, I do." She was about to leave, but returned to hug her adopter mother and sister. "I love you."

…

Jeremiah threw a female Bashtee, destroying a stage on her way to ground. A blast from behind took him down and when he rolled on his back to see who had attacked him, a Sugall was in the air, going straight to him, body covered with spikes ready to land and smash anything; but the alien never landed, a blue laser changed his landing spot and sent him far away. On top of him, Supergirl was floating, paying attention to the whole situation.

"Are you ok?!" Asked his younger daughter from the sky.

"Yes, go help the others!"

Kara nodded and flew away.

Mon-El saw Kara fighting the rock-textured alien; that was Krill, he loved strong cocktails, it was a good fellow but he didn't seem friendly at present time. The Daxamite noticed Supergirl was not as fast as she used to, but that wasn't an issue for her. She was fighting and being cautious at the same time, of course Kara had also recognized Krill.

Kara dodged a car thrown to her and J'onn was there to catch it before it hit innocent people.

"I'm sorry for this Krill!" Kara kicked his face and the alien rolled a long distant from her, and when he stopped, he didn't stand up.

"Two more to go…" Guardian started to run; then pain erupted inside his head.

J'onn confirmed his suspicions when Jeremiah and James' raw screams were heard. Both men grabbing their heads, falling on their knees, then staying in a fetus position, with shaking hands trying to stop whatever pain they were into… They weren't the only ones; the two aliens that remained on the attack complained of the same pain, the ones that were supposed to be unconscious were affected too. _A telepath…_ J'onn realized. _Where are you?_ The Green Martian tried to enter James's mind and when he did his own mind shook under the attack, it was dangerous, he had to get out and before cutting the connection, a voice he never heard before greeted him: _Hello, Martian._

The attack stopped and all the victims of it fainted.

"Jeremiah?!" Kara held the man in her arms. "Jeremiah can you hear me?"

"What was that?" Maggie came running to help Kara.

"I don't know… J'onn?" She looked up and saw her boss descending.

"It was a telepath." Informed the Martian.

"What?" Maggie wanted details.

"A telepath like me, but he's not Martian, not green, not white…" For the first time, J'onn seemed worried. "I've never seen anyone that powerful, he was controlling all of them." He looked around to each alien body spread on the scene.

"Sir, they're all unconscious." An agent let them know.

"Guardian is unconscious as well." Mon-El was carrying him and carefully placed it on the ground.

"Cadmus must be behind this." Kara started to make deductions. "They needed Alex to release prisoners, they couldn't get it, so they sent a telepath to control free aliens, cause disasters, and have an excuse to fight them. Otherwise, what was the purpose of attacking innocent people?"

"Where did they get him from?" Asked Maggie.

"Last time my mother put a bounty on Kara, a telepath controlled me." Mon-El grabbed his chin thinking. "Could have been him… But why was I not affected like before?"

"He's a prisoner at the DEO." Replied J'onn, opening the line in his com. "Agent Schott, we need to confirm an alien's presence inside our facilities in the North." No one responded on the other side. "Agent Schott?" The Martian adjusted his com. "Has anyone been in touch with Agent Schott?" He asked other agents this time, but the line was dead.

"Oh my God… It was a set up." Kara froze. Now that pieces had been put together, she understood her mistake. She had abandoned her… the fear she felt when she was thirteen years old, while taking off from the life she knew at Krypton, that same fear consumed her mind and condensed everything in a single word…

 _Alex._

…

She could fly faster than a bullet, still the fly back to the DEO felt like an eternity.

Broken glass. As soon as she landed, J'onn next to her, she stepped on broken glass. Winn's body was on the circular table in the middle of the operations room.

"Winn?" The guy was bruised and he didn't respond but Kara calmed down when she heard his heart beating.

"What happened?" J'onn rushed to help other agents lying on top of screens, some others on the stairs; everything was messed up, it looked like a hurricane had passed inside the DEO, smoke still coming out of devices and a flickering light partially illuminating everything.

DEO helicopters could be heard not far from them, they were gonna arrive soon and more help would come; nevertheless, Kara had a couple of persons in mind.

With glassy eyes, she looked at J'onn and the Martian understood her. "Go, I'll keep checking on them." He nodded. Supergirl wasted no time and went directly to the med bay, where she found beds turned over and Eliza face down unconscious on the floor.

"Eliza…" She took her Earth mother as kindly as she could, afraid of internal injures. "Please…" She turned the woman up and found a trail of blood on her left cheek, apparently coming from her forehead. Kara cupped the woman's left side of her head and blood stained her fingers. Tears finally fell down and they landed on the scientist's face. A heartbeat was there, but it wasn't enough to pace down her emotions. "Please open you eyes, Eliza. Please…" She caressed her cheek. _Alex. Alex. Alex._ The Kryptonian looked around them, looking for her sister, but she wasn't there. She tried to concentrate in sounds and many heartbeat patterns were heard, but none of them belonged to Alex.

"Kara…" Supergirl's attention focused on Eliza. "They took her…" the woman started to cry. "They took my baby… they took Alex." Kara's heart contracted, and hopelessness emerged as a heavy ton on the back of her shoulders; se gulped and her throat hurt.

"Eliza…" Jeremiah kneeled next to them. "Are you ok, dear? What happened? Where's Alex?"

"I can't find her." J'onn entered the room after Jeremiah.

"They all came… Henshaw, Lillian, and him… he was a telepath…" Eliza kept saying between sobs. "Cadmus… he belonged to Cadmus… he forced out the Indigo code from her mind and he took her with them…"

"What did he look like, Eliza?" Questioned J'onn.

"Please bring her back…" Eliza was shaking now, she was emotionally destroyed and Kara held her tighter to give her strength.

The Green Martian approached the trembling woman and placed his hand on her forehead, helping her mind to relax. "We need to know what he looks like, Eliza."

"Bald, gray skin, two horns on his forehead… Lillian Luthor addressed him as Dubbi… Dubbilex."

TBC…

* * *

 _Yay! Finally updating! I'm sorry for the delay, I wanted to figure out things properly before typing them, because I want this story to be a good one, so I'll do my best to add a cool villain on it; probably many of you know who Dubbilex is, and I think it would be great to add someone who is J'onn's direct competition. I sincerely hope you're enjoying this!_


	7. Chapter 7: Absent

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 7: Absent

* * *

 _Cities are being evacuated to protect citizens…_

She changed the channel.

 _Chicago's monument is gone…_

Changed channel again.

 _…_ _and paramedics are collaborating to face the situation…_

Another channel.

 _…_ _tragedy hit National City this afternoon. Four human losses and thirty-two wounded was the paid price after an alien attack took place during…_

A wave of wind crashed on her nape. Lena knew that presence; turning around on her heels, she lost attention on TV to find Supergirl standing on her balcony. That was probably the first time she was seeing the hero with a curtain of gloom on her face. Both arms fallen on her sides, shoulders down, but something was keeping the alien's chin up; and Lena knew that 'courage' was fake, because it was the kind of courage on the surface when someone was forced to keep the head up even when everything underneath was shattering.

 _What is going on out there?!_ Lena wanted to know, but seeing the woman in front of her faded any prepared question. "Supergirl…" She used her tone of voice carefully, believing anything could be a punch for the blonde. "C-come in, please." However, the Girl of Steel was distracted, looking at something else. The CEO followed her eyes and the destination was the news on TV. The scene was Supergirl holding an unconscious man after the attackers had suddenly fainted. Lena took the controller and switched the screen to black. "Supergirl… is there anything I can do to help?" She said, approaching her friend, grabbing her left hand and softly pulling her into her office. The Luthor was about to say something else, until she discarded the idea after seeing the lost sight of the Kryptonian and her glassy eyes. She put a nervous hand on her right shoulder first, then pulled the Super in an embrace.

For a moment, she thought of how both hugging looked like from the outside, and the irony of the act considering what happened between Lex and Superman; between a Luthor and a Super… then she felt familiar with the hug, there was also that smell… that, perfume like… _That's like_ _Kara's…_

"I'm sorry…" Supergirl pulled back to regain her posture. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok." She rushed to answer. "I can't say you're a human with feelings who sometimes face hard times; but you're definitely an alien with feelings." And a tiny smiled appeared on the girl's face; vanishing as fast as it emerged. "What's going on?" Yes, there was paranoia out there, but focusing on the hero, something was off, Lena knew it, and by the Super's aspect, it was clear something had gone wrong.

"Kara Danvers needs your help." Said Supergirl with a flat voice.

The simple line, pushed Lena's inner emergency button. "What happened to her? Is she ok?" She asked consumed in concern. _Please tell me she wasn't covering that parade._

"She's safe." And a hint of guilt was perceived in the way Supergirl replied.

"Where is she? Why didn't she come?"

"She's covering things up out there… she couldn't come so she asked me to talk to you." Kara lied.

"I understand but… shouldn't you be helping people? This is a National war…"

"I know, and my colleagues are working on everyone's safety as we speak. Government Intel has been implied, resulting in current attacks around the country; we need your help to rescue a very important member of our crew. It's Kara's sister who is in trouble."

"Agent Danvers? Yeah… I know her. She saved my life before. How can I help?"

"Would you come with me?"

…

Was she dreaming? Whatever it was, she was not either fully asleep or awake. Alex found herself in that stage in which a person is falling asleep, but still can hear everything around. She was exhausted, and it wasn't physical this time; her mind wanted to shut down. There was a tickling sensation in her brain and the agent assumed it was due to what had been extracted out of it. When J'onn read her mind, things had been dizzy afterwards, but only for a few seconds. On the contrary, this time she couldn't concentrate at all, to get focused was a challenge because it felt as if everything was slipping away by the time she tried to remember something to keep her mind busy; every memory was foggy. The attack on the DEO, her mother's pleading voice, things being thrown, hands carrying her away from the facilities… Where was she?

Alexandra Danvers looked like having an appointment to the dentist lying on that chair, a bright light above her; except dentists usually didn't tie their patients. Lillian Luthor walked around the 'unconscious' woman; but she knew Alex wasn't sleeping at all; Dubbilex had left her in a 'waiting for orders' state as he described.

"You're one of a kind, Alexandra." The Luthor stood at Alex's feet, smiling at her 'human' award. "You know, it had indeed crossed my mind who you would be if Kara Zor-El had never stopped by your house. A stubborn child without a doubt; nevertheless, a brilliant scientist, rebelling against your parents admiration towards aliens just because you like doing the contrary to what you're told to do. Mostly, because you've always felt like a target, having the parents you have, the connections they had with a certain Super, the time they spent working to help him and not you, their own daughter; your deepest fear was being vulnerable, feeling exposed to threats; thus you forced yourself to be strong, to be the logical one in the family, the one with common sense in what implied to be helping an alien who was fighting enemies." Lillian walked to stand on her left side. "As I said, a brilliant scientist, but a rebel one, and I would've taken advantage of it to recruit you. What we could achieve…" she sighed, "I won't waste my time with this alternate past. Certain alien had to spoil the party; a certain blonde made you change your mind… and that's exactly what I will fix."

…

J'onn watched every single one of the screens in that room while some of his personnel was working on putting things back in place and attending the wounded at the med bay. The DEO had sent most of its squads to control alien attacks in different spots of the country. He perfectly memorized those locations in the past, DEO's locations. As prison containment started to be hacked using the Indigo code extracted from Alex, Winn managed to neutralize a few attempts; problem was, there was only one Winn, and many DEO facilities spread in other states.

Strategy was planned immediately; orders were given; now teams of agents were either on the scene or on their way to suppress the attackers. It was an emergency operation.

There was no sight of Dubbilex or Henshaw on the screens, which only made things worse, because apparently, those who used to be DEO prisoners seemed to be fully aware of their actions; no mind control this time. The Green Martian inhaled in a trained way to keep himself calmed, but movement on his surroundings wasn't helping.

In the back, Winn cheered up about something; he walked towards his friends, and thanked his mind would be dealing with something else.

"You sure this will work?" Asked J'onn.

"Yup, this is one of the coolest things I've seen!" Winn replied while holding a tiny device, which looked like a bean. "It hurts my ego to accept Maxwell Lord's tech to dodge the Myriad wave was awesome, but this…" He looked at Lena with shiny eyes. "This is… Wow! I mean, this is way cooler than that, in every aspect. The way it deflects the waves… We could even try it now." He placed it inside his left ear. "Go ahead, try to read my mind." He nodded to the Green Martian.

Guardian, Jeremiah, Eliza, Mon-El, Lena, and Kara; all waited for J'onn to confirm the device worked. The Martian frowned around four times, and that was it.

"I can't. It works." He confirmed.

"How can we know it will work on Dubbilex? He's a synthetized alien, the way Cadmus…"

"Jeremiah…" Eliza grabbed his arm. "It'll be fine. I trust Winn and Lena's skills."

"Has Alex's tracker been detected?"

"No, Sir. No sign of it." Replied Winn.

"I wish there was something else I could do help."

"You've done more than enough, Miss Luthor." Said J'onn. "Let's move."

…

It was a similar sensation. Alex couldn't explain. Very alike how it felt when the code had been extracted; it burned, it tickled, it hurt… but nothing felt like being pulled this time. It was definitely similar… except it was the opposite. Nothing going out, it was more like pressure. All she wanted was to wake up, to get out of her own head, but she was trapped, she knew it was the alien. Unconscious or not, her body was tensed; sometimes it trembled, like having a seizure, but kept in control. _I'm tied. I need to wake up, I need to fight back… What did they do to mom? Where's Dad? Maggie…J'onn… Ka… Ka… who is Ka… 'Ka' something… What was I thinking?... Right, I need to… What day is it?_

"How is the process going?" Asked Lillian Luthor, seated on a chair in front of Alex, looking at the gray alien doing his job. Both hands on the agent's temple. "Had they been removed?"

"Kara Zor-El has been present half of this human's life, if I remove too many memories, the subject is at risk of brain death." Replied the creature. "I'm suppressing those memories instead."

"Those weren't my orders." The cold tone Lillian used made the alien look straight to his creator. "I need Kara Zor-El out of her; I need the Alex Danvers that would exist without the Kryptonian in her life. I want all recent DEO memories gone. I want her mind to be moldable, I want her to follow my orders, no questions, no hesitation."

"And it will be done. There are limits in science. Human mind is weak; if you want me to delete things in that magnitude, the subject will be useless for the mission."

"If I notice a hint of Alexandra remembering Supergirl or any of her friends, I'll kill her in the spot." Spoke Henshaw.

Lillian stayed silent for a moment, playing with a pen between her fingers; considering her options. "Very well. I made you Dubbilex, I trust my own work."

"What about her wounds? She can't do anything in her condition."

"It's her mind we're talking about, Henshaw." Replied the gray creature. "Mind controls the body; I can make it heal faster."

"Can you, Dubbilex?" Asked an intrigued Lillian.

"Human's living tissue works under biochemical reactions; I can command her cells to work faster in the natural healing process."

"Excellent." Nodded Lillian. She stood up. "If you excuse me, the moment for Cadmus to make a heroic appearance has come. There are cities to save."

"I prefer to kill." Said Henshaw.

"Of course you do. Kill any alien you see." The woman and Hank started to exit the room. "May the alien hunting begin."

"Henshaw." Called Dubbilex on their backs. Making both Lillian and the cyborg to look above their shoulders. "The Green Martian is mine."

"You don't get to tell me what to do." Replied a furious Henshaw, walking back towards the gray alien. His feet stopped after the third step. The cyborg tried to use his laser eye, but he couldn't move. "W-what are…"

"Cyborg or not, your mind is still human." Dubbilex said inside his mind and Lillian's. His mouth opened to continue: "You are aware of what's happening at the moment, but I can deal with that and grant you the honor to completely be my puppet."

Lillian's sweat felt cold in her back. For the first time in her scientist career, she feared consequences.

"He stole my identity…" Henshaw said clenching his teeth; fighting to get control on his body again. "It is my right to…"

"It is your right to have an opinion, but I disagree with it." Said the alien without looking intimidated by Henshaw. "The Martian is a telepath, J'onn Jonzz's life is mine to take."

"Ma'am. Teams are awaiting for your orders." A soldier entered the room, breaking tension in the air.

As Dubbilex released his body, Cyborg Superman prepared to shoot the alien.

"Henshaw!" Interrupted Lillian. "I need you on the field!"

Full of anger, Henshaw felt the impulse to shut Lillian too, but he knew he was in disadvantage. Therefore, he turned around, leaving his fight against Dubbilex in his pending list.

"Not today." Said Dubbilex, lifting his face with a cold smile on it. "Human mind."

…

Kara got the flying car destined to a passenger bus and used her heat vision to hit the yellow female Wox. In the past, Supergirl had helped to capture that Fort Rozz prisoner; she had usually delivered captured aliens to the DEO, but she never knew where they were sent. Oregon had been this Wox's final stop.

J'onn decided to split the team to offer support to the DEO. The Martian was near Detroit, Guardian and Jeremiah had stayed in National City, Mon-El to Denver, and she had been sent to cover Oregon.

A DEO agent shot the alien, because it fell before she could spit her poisonous saliva to Supergirl.

"Help!" Kara heard a man behind her.

The man was trapped inside his crashed car. She took off but the car exploded on her face, throwing her back. "No!" She regained her balance in the air.

A laugh got her attention. The tall alien responsible for the explosion sent a radiant blue sphere to her; as she used her heat vision to make it explode before it could reach her, she got advantage of the distraction to fly straight to the alien, surprising him when Supergirl emerged out of fire and smoke to tackle him down.

…

"I got'cha, I got'cha!" Mon-El used a lamppost as baseball bat to hit a fat alien that had been pushed from the top of a truck by a DEO gun.

Most aliens in the area had been submitted, but there were still a few fighting back the DEO. Two more black trucks arrived to help. "There are citizens inside the church!" An agent told Mon-El after descending from the vehicle.

"Is it bad if I say this is exciting?"

"Let's go!" The agent waved his team to move, ignoring the Daxamite's words.

"We should visit the Canyon after this." He said, removing some big rocks away from the entrance to clear the way in.

…

J'onn left the kids in hands of paramedics. The Martian flew to distract aliens while the DEO shot them down. At this point it was useless to try to negotiate with them, they were in the middle of revenge; it was either them or humanity; creating a perfectly planned invasion by Cadmus.

He couldn't perceive Dubbilex anywhere near the city. Again, he felt like part of a game he didn't know about.

…

"Get the lady out of here!" James pointed a woman dragging herself beneath a fallen outdoor advert. Two other aliens came after him.

 _"_ _Guys, the perimeter is almost clear for you to attack freely."_ Informed Maggie in their coms.

"Understood." Jeremiah would help Guardian later, rescuing citizens was a priority. He lifted the structure of the fallen advert, and a DEO agent pulled the woman out.

A spike ripped Jeremiah's arm skin. When he faced his opponent, he recognized the alien. Superman was who captured it in the past. Hard-skinned, not oxygen needed, two hearts, and above everything, spikes on its head and arms. Perhaps a grenade would do the job, he aimed his gun pretending to open fire, but in a quick move, he grabbed a grenade from his belt. He was about to throw it, but someone else did. Fire wasn't orange, but blue after the explosion; it wasn't DEO's weaponry; he'd seen that fire before.

The scientist looked around and his suspicions confirmed when Cadmus soldiers appeared to contain aliens.

…

One last kick on his head and the alien fell unconscious. Kara had to land and support herself on a wall to catch her breath.

The Girl of Steel shook her head to clear the black dotted vision threatening to consume her. She got dizzy; her body letting her know she wasn't fully recovered yet. Luckily, the Kryptonian was under real sunlight this time; things weren't healing as fast as she'd like to, but it was helping.

When soldiers appeared to fight aliens, she recognized their uniforms. _Cadmus…_

 _"_ _Guys! We need help here!"_ Winn's voice took her by surprise.

"Winn?"

 _"_ _We're under attack again! Alex…"_

The signal went dead.

…

Guardian, Jeremiah, and Mon-El were already at the DEO when she arrived. The three of them fighting Henshaw in the middle of an ocean of flying bullets between DEO agents and Cadmus soldiers.

Her feet touched the ground inside the building and she finally met the gray alien, horns on his head as Eliza had described, standing next to Lillian Luthor; who was smiling.

J'onn landed behind her.

Supergirl looked to Winn's desk… that was when she saw her; Alex, wearing a black armor, standing behind three kneeled people: Eliza, Lena, and Winn, who had the tip of Alex's gun on his head, looking petrified.

Kara looked Alex in the eyes. They were different. When Non controlled her in the past, she could feel her sister behind an empty gaze, the real Alex… but this Alex… her eyes weren't empty; on the contrary, they were full of emotion, they were cold and hateful.

Those once tender eyes, were absent.

TBC…

* * *

 _Almost two weeks since my last update, I'm sorry! Life happened and in between personal, family, and work stuff, I wasn't inspired to write; I didn't want to simply type any thing and publish whatever empty chapter just to post something. I chose to wait for motivation to come instead, and properly continue this story. Thank you all for reading it, it really means a lot! Thank you for your encouraging reviews and to all guest reviews too! Much love for each of you!_


	8. Chapter 8: Heart

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 8: Heart

* * *

"Alex…"

"She's taking all DEO's intel out of the servers from my…" As Winn tried to warn, the IT guy was immediately on the ground; the back of Alex's gun left where his head used to be before being knocked down.

"No! Alex, what are you…" Supergirl was interrupted when the gun moved to threaten Eliza's head.

"She's doing what she's supposed to do." Replied Lillian Luthor.

"Mother, stop this…" Lena tried to buy time.

"I thought you were smarter than this, Lena." Lillian said.

"Shall we get rid of them once and for all?" Dubbilex spoke next to the Luthor; who didn't understand the extent of what the alien meant, until she saw Alex aiming at Lena.

"What are you doing Dubbilex?" Bewilderment projected on Lillian's face.

"She's a threat to our mission."

"She's my daughter."

"She's a traitor. That's how you described her."

"Stop it, Alex!" Supergirl was about to fly to them, but Alex pressured the gun on her friend's trembling head.

"She doesn't know who you are; she can't hear YOU." Explained the gray alien, looking upset about something. "And somehow I can't hear any of you…" he pointed out, frowning as his eyes moved around the room. "The DEO didn't have this tech before, that makes you responsible for it." His eyes went back to Lena.

Kara knew what was coming. Flying would cause a reaction from Alex with or without Dubbilex's control, and she couldn't risk Lena.

"NO!" Yelled Lillian Luthor, lifting her gun towards the alien; who seemed distracted for a second, giving Kara the perfect chance to use her heatvision to hit Alex's gun out of her hand.

Grunting, Dubbilex threw Lillian through the opened window Kara and J'onn had used as entrance to the DEO. The Green Martian flew after Lillian, while Kara rushed to take Alex away from her foster mother and friends.

…

Jeremiah's back broke the desk when he landed on it.

Henshaw used his eye to shoot Guardian. James lifted his shield to protect himself, but the impact sent him backwards, hitting two DEO agents on his way to the ground.

Mon-El threw a chair to distract the cyborg. Taking that chance, Jeremiah hit Hank back, leaving a grenade stuck in his helmet. The Daxamite jumped to tackle Jeremiah away from the cyborg, whose head bounced with the explosion, leaving a skinless silver skeleton and a flickering blue eye.

…

"Alex! Please stop!" Yelled Supergirl when she landed on top of her sister. For Kara's surprise, Alex kicked her stomach, rolling the Super above her head.

It hurt. Why did a human kick affect her? Kara took a second to analyze the armor; probably not the same Non had given Alex, but there were similarities in the armor and Jeremiah's enhanced arm. The Kryptonian feared Alex's body had been altered too, but she hoped the armor was necessary because her sister's body was still as vulnerable as a normal human body was. She couldn't keep thinking, because Alex charged after her again, fists ready to cause damage.

When Alex punched her chin, the next thing Kara saw was the ceiling; gravity would force her way down, but someone grabbed her cape to pull her faster against the floor.

She couldn't hurt Alex, she didn't want to. There had to be a way to bring her back. _Why did I leave them alone? I was so stupid._ She blamed her previous actions. Alex was in the middle of recovery the last time she saw her; her sister looked fine and somehow both of them felt refreshed after their talk with Eliza. The Girl of Steel got Alex back only for Cadmus to take her away again. What had they done to Alex? Why Alex? It was selfish from her to think like that, but she was pissed they had attacked her family; they had hurt Alex. Maybe her sister didn't remember her, but that didn't change the fact that a part of Alex's life had been stolen, and someone like Alex didn't deserve that.

The agent walked towards her, gun in hand. Supergirl had to fix this and to do so, the first step was fighting back. _I'm so sorry, Alex._ Rolling on her own shape, she kicked he sister's legs, putting both on the same level.

…

J'onn landed at the operations room, leaving a shocked Lillian Luthor on her feet.

"Leave." He said with a low yet commanding voice.

Lillian was far from him in a second when what felt like a wrecking ball hit his whole body; except it wasn't a ball, it was a furious gray alien. The Green Martian felt blood dropping from his temple when Dubbilex removed his horns from it.

"WHY CAN'T I READ YOU, MARTIAN?!"

…

"Winn! Wake up!" Eliza shook the guy until his eyes started to open up.

"…liza…what?" He mumbled.

"I need a hand here, Winn!" Said Lena from his desk. While trying to stop whatever information was being stolen with a series of codes Alex had typed. This time it wasn't an external drive, but a direct exchange of information. Winn was standing next to her rubbing his eyes to pay attention on the screen. "Do you know the code Alex typed? You're the best IT member at the DEO you must know how to neutralize it."

"I think… this is…" He frowned, wetting his lips with a nervous tongue, eyes going up and down through characters. "Ah… this line… Oh! I got it, I got it, I got it…"

"NO!" Eliza, Winn and Lena heard Supergirl's voice behind them. When they turned to see what was happening, a shade of blue and red stood between them and a flying screen. "Alex! Listen to me!" The blonde begged, dodging Alex's punch in the air; flipping her sister's torso to hold her in place.

"You don't belong to Earth!" The agent used her elbow to hit Kara's ribs one, two, three times… Kara's lock loosed enough for the older Danvers to roll Supergirl on her back. Kara was on her feet immediately, avoiding feet and fists.

"Please, don't make me do this. I can't hurt you…" Whatever she said, nothing was working. "You have to remember us Alex, you've gone through this already…" Alex's boot impacted her face and dizziness came back. _I'm not fully healed…_ "Alex…"

"Shut up!" No one could tell where she got it from, but a green blade cut the skin in Kara's right tight.

"ALEX!" Eliza's voice overlapped Kara's raw scream. The woman gave her back to Winn and Lena, to face both girls. "STOP!"

"You still choose them over me?!" Asked her daughter in anger.

"Honey, stop this. This is not you…"

"Clearly you don't know me." Said Alex with a bitter smile. "Stay out of this." She turned again to see Supergirl, who was putting pressure against the superficial wound. "It's just an alien…" Said in a cold tone.

"She's your sister!"

"My what?" Alex turned back to her mother in disbelief, analyzing her as if the woman was crazy. The agent laughed with sarcasm. "You're out of your mind." That sentence being said, she went after Kara.

…

"I never liked you." Henshaw grabbed the back of Jeremiah's head to lower him and welcome the man's ribcage with his knee.

"We never liked you either!" Mon-EL kicked Henshaw's inner legs to make him lose balance.

The cyborg tried to use his laser eye, but when the light shined, it only seemed to recharge himself; causing Hank to bent forward, both hands on his head. "What the heck did you do to me?!"

James came back into action after taking one of the DEO agents electromagnetic weapons; pulling the trigger to shock the cyborg's body.

…

Dubbilex tried to punch the Green Martian, but J'onn used his intangibility powers, causing the gray alien to pass through his body. The Martian knew there was distance between them, what he did not see coming, was the locker on his left. The impact working as a reminder of the creature's telekinesis.

J'onn scanned their surroundings realizing flying objects were not the best option during a combat inside the DEO. Agents and soldiers were fighting, his friends were fighting too. Mon-El, Guardian and Jeremiah were gaining control over Henshaw; Winn and Lena's fingers looked blurry as they typed commands to take control over intel; Eliza was concerned, her eyes on something more important, Alex and Kara's fight.

J'onn and Dubbilex punched, kicked, threw one another; objects started to be their weapons, and soon exhaustion started to rise. Apparently the biggest advantage the two of them had, was each one's mind; he had to expose his mind, he didn't know what he would face, but whatever it was, for his family, friends, and team, he would take the risk.

Henshaw felt unconscious, getting Dubbilex's attention for a second, one precious second J'onn took to take out Lena's device out of his ear and step on it to prevent the alien using it. The moment his mind was back in a telepath's radar, the bald's eyes stuck on his. That was when the first invisible wave of energy tried to penetrate his mind. This was different to when J'onn fought White Martians, at least they were familiar for him, but Dubbilex was different; the alien was powerful, and his attempts to get inside felt like fire, intense heat overwhelming his brain.

The Martian resisted his attacks for a few seconds, to make him put his guard down a little bit. A chance was found and the head of the DEO filtered himself through walls of thoughts inside Dubbilex… lights, Lillian's voice, corridors, screams, and there she was, what he had done to… _Alex_. Something hit his head, his body fell on his right side; lifting mental walls immediately to protect himself from the quick attack he got in response. Things looked foggy and he lost sense of gravity for a couple of seconds, but a broken screen allowed him to see the reflection of the gray alien approaching him from behind. J'onn rolled to his left; Dubbilex hit the ground.

…

"Hold back." Lillian's voice was the only sound capable to stop Winn and Lena's hands on the keyboard.

The woman had a gun pointing at them. "Mother, stop this." Said Lena, standing in front of Winn.

"I don't take orders from you. You don't deserve to hold our surname. Now move."

"No. And I have more right to carry my father's surname than you. I've his blood." Lena's chin lifted. "Keep going, Winn." She said with determination, looking above her shoulder.

"How dare you to face me, child…"

"Do you have any idea of what you've caused out there, mother? All those lives you've risked." Added Lena with a hard voice.

"This is only the beginning. I am aware of every step I take in order to achieve my purposes."

"I didn't know one of your purposes was to be thrown out of a window by one of your creations." Lena spotted two people silently approaching her adopting mother.

"Oh that's… that's a low blow." Mentioned Winn.

Arms wrapped Lillian from behind, hers falling on each side. "I'm very sorry for this, but you put yourself in this shameful position." Mon-El spoke close to her ear.

"You're under arrest, Luthor." Guardian disarmed the leader, then placed cuffs around her wrists. Two DEO agents joining them. "We'll go help the others. Make sure to tie her somewhere she can't leave the building." James instructed.

"Guys…" They all looked at Winn. "I have Maggie on the line, things are being controlled out there. Cadmus made an appearance as hero of the day."

"That'll change soon." Concluded Lena.

…

The alien was trying to twist his mind. It wasn't the exact same sensation as flesh being hurt, but this pain was worse, neutralizing the rest of his senses. He felt exposed; that was his mind, it was intimate; his family on Mars, his family on Earth… no one could look into his precious memories without his permission. Suddenly, J'onn could differentiate mental pain from physical; the alien had used his horns to hit him straight on the chest; leaving him breathless.

Dubbilex laughed in his thoughts, but he hadn't survived only to die under the creation of a fake alien; there was no honor in that. Following his instincts, not his opened mind, he grabbed a block of concrete from what used to be walls, and hit the gray alien in a rushed movement; cutting the mental bond right away.

The top of the building was Dubbilex's sight as he felt on his back, body in shock. He tried to move but his limbs didn't respond. He got a hint of what the Green Martian would do, but it was too fast; he couldn't react in time. That damned alien would pay for that. His mind was still working, but weaker; he couldn't reach the Martian in his numb condition, and he also knew J'onn J'onzz was still recovering because he wasn't attacking him yet. Finally, he managed to lift his head and confirmed the Martian was still trying to catch his breath. He had to take the chance to destroy him; perhaps he couldn't attack a Martian's mind, but he had seen enough, enough of those heart bonds with humans, with the Martian's second family; perhaps he didn't have the mental strength to reach the Green's mind; however, he was strong enough to reach a human one, and he knew exactly which one; a mind he knew really well.

He looked around. The target was busy fighting a Kryptonian hated by Lillian Luthor. Not far from them, a woman called Eliza in J'onn's mind, 'mom' in Alex's, was worryingly watching her daughters fight. Jeremiah Danvers, who used to be part of Cadmus, who met the Martian during a mission according to J'onzz's memories, was on his way to try to stop the human and the Kryptonian. That human called Alexandra was his weapon now.

…

Kara noticed the change in Alex's eyes. At least those hazel eyes showed a will before; but out of nowhere, they seemed lost and empty. It was a complete déjà vu from their battle during Myriad, except a gun had been added. A kryptonite blade, on one hand, making her feel dizzy while being close to her older sister, definitely not her favorite thing considering she was still recovering; and a Cadmus gun in the other hand. Supergirl knew whatever next move she made, either of those weapons would welcome her.

Nevertheless, plans changed and Kara didn't see Alex's actions coming. Her sister turned around to point her gun at Eliza. Her superhearing could hear the trigger being pulled, and Kara flew towards them helplessly; knowing she wouldn't get there to save her foster mother. Luckily, Jeremiah got there in time, catching the bullet in his back. But it wasn't over; Alex had jumped, blade directing to both her parents, and Kara would never let that happen, Alex would never be able to live with that burden. This family had given everything to protect her on Earth, and she would do anything in her power to pay them back. As it happened fast and her body was already in pain; when Kara got in her sister's way, shielding her Earth parents with her body, she didn't realize the blade had gone through her torso until she heard J'onn's scream, standing over a dead Dubbilex. Alex's hands were still holding the blade inserted in her chest. When her eyes locked with sister's again, they weren't empty, neither were them full of hate as moments before. They were just staring at her, in confusion as tears streamed down the agent's face.

"What's hap…" Alex's wiped a tear away from her right eye, completely disorientated of the situation and her reaction.

"It's ok…" Kara's trembling hand cupped her sister's cheek. "Look at me…" her voice got stuck when she involuntarily coughed blood. "You'll be ok…" The hero fell on her knees, pulling Alex down alongside her. "It wasn't y-your fault, it wasn't…" And the Girl of Steel couldn't finish the sentence before collapsing in her sister's arms.

TBC…

* * *

 _Thank you guys for inspiring me to keep writing with your awesome reviews! Seriously, when I look at my email and see notifications of them, a big smile appears on my face. This story is almost over, I and can't thank you enough for going through it with me. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Much love to you who are reading this._


	9. Chapter 9: Us

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to CW's Supergirl.

CHAPTER 9: Us

* * *

All she needed to do was go to sleep. The headache was her body's last resource to force her into bed; but she couldn't, she didn't want to, she was scared the real Alex wouldn't wake up. At this very moment, she didn't care about herself.

She had woken up in that provisional med bay. An area that had been set due to the wreckage left in the DEO. This time, the building had been a battlefield; just like National City. Alex looked around her; what used to be a training room was now a shared space for wounded agents; curtains being the only walls of privacy between beds.

Many times in the past, she had felt fearless in that same room; today she felt defeated. The agent wasn't hungry; she didn't want a thing; no sleeping, no eating, no talking, not… to exist. She wished to vanish, to be gone. It felt like a fake reality; like an illusion; even the black mercy experience felt more real, when she had to go after… _Kara_ … It was useless, whatever thought she had to try to distract her mind, something would bring Kara to her head; and guilt was killing her. It didn't matter; the harder she tried to avoid those memories of her recent actions, the easiest they came to her. Kara had tried to sooth her before blacking out, but she couldn't be at peace with herself; not now that her mind was back to her true self, and immediate flashbacks of her parents about to be stabbed by her hand came back to torture her. At that time, she felt J'onn's presence inside her mind, replacing that invasive cold presence which frightened her, which was controlling her; the Green Martian pulled her memories to surface; he was inside her head when things happened, he saw her actions from a first row seat; once her consciousness was clear, she heard J'onn's scream, and Kara was in front of her, a trail of blood out of her mouth; face showing pain and… compassion. Her parents rushed to delicately remove her bloodied trembling hands from the blade, carefully pulling it out of Kara. It was like watching a movie; J'onn lifting Supergirl faster than she had ever seen him move; yelling after medical attention. Eliza hugged her, and her mother's hand on the back of her neck was the last thing she remembered right before waking up in that room.

She was seated on the edge of her bed, looking at nothing in particular, just lost in her thoughts. Flashes of Cadmus pulling her away from a desperate Eliza, a keyboard, agents everywhere; but nothing compared with the sharp pain in her brain; the powerless feeling of being forced to open up, to be exposed, and vulnerable, and used, and manipulated.

A warm hand on her arm brought her back to the DEO.

"I got you some juice." Maggie left the glass on a table and sat down in front of her girlfriend.

Alex didn't notice she had been crying, until Maggie used her thumbs to wipe tears away, and caressed her hair.

"Alex…"

"Please, I just want to be alone…" She said with a barely audible voice.

"Do you?"

"No…" Her face looked down with embarrassment.

"Hey…" Maggie saw new tears falling down, sitting next to Alex, she wrapped her in a sided hug. "I can't pretend to understand what you went through, babe. But please don't carry all that weight on your shoulders, because it is not yours to take."

"It is… it is." Even now, her body wouldn't follow her orders; uncontrollable sobs made their way out, making her shudder, breaking her voice, a heavy something inside her chest, retaining her from breathing.

"Listen to me, Alex. No one blames you for what happened."

"I wanna wake up." She said all of a sudden.

"Alex…"

"I wanna wake up now… Please tell me this is a nightmare, Mags." She lifted her gaze; a couple of broken eyes Maggie had never seen in the past. "Please, please, please let me wake up now." She shook her head.

"Alex." The cop cupped her face to stop her. "Focus on me. You're here, awake. I'm with you, and I'm not going anywhere, do you understand?"

"I d-don't know what is real anymore."

"Breathe, Alex." She placed her forehead against the Danvers's one. "Breathe with me. Deeply. Just breathe."

When it seemed things were calming down, regret came back. "All those people in National City, my teammates… dad is hurt, J'onn is hurt, Kara… I caused this."

"No, you were forced to cause this." Maggie said with a soft voice; doing her best to find anything she could say to bring some solace to Alex. "It could have been anyone else, Alex. You can't blame yourself for your skills, your knowledge, the family you have, or whatever reason they had to put you in this position." There was no response; the sobbing continued. "We all love you, and no one can change that. Because the Alex we know, the real Alex, she is kind, and sweet, and selfless, and brave, and a stubborn kicking badass girlfriend, I have to mention." The last sentence bringing a quick chuckle from Alex.

Her breathing started to be normal again, and her body relaxed a bit. "How's everyone?" She asked after a few minutes.

"Wounded agents are stable now. People are being helped. We have many volunteers willing to offer any support they can in the city. Believe me, things are better now." Maggie made a pause. "J'onn is resting. His mind was exhausted after his fight with Dubbilex and…"

"After releasing those suppressed memories of mine." Alex finished.

"Yes. Your dad recovered quickly, at least being enhanced by Cadmus came handy. He and your mom were assisting Kara's surgery when I was on my way here. It was almost over; I guess they must be doing an overall evaluation as we speak." New tears threaten to fall freely from Alex's eyes, but Maggie made a move to bring up optimism. "You did a good job as an older sister, she's a fighter, and she'll be alright."

"But the wound…"

"Her right lung was damaged, but the blade didn't touch her heart. Now kryptonite is being removed. The surgery aimed to help her body during healing processes, without risks."

"The last time we found ourselves in this position, my mom brought me back, she stopped me before I could… but this time…"

"Shh… Kara in on her way to bounce back."

"I almost killed her… again."

"And both times you two have made it out." She kissed Alex's head. "I confess I would love to have something like what you and Kara have… Supergirl and DEO jobs included. The only thing I've seen this time I've been with you, is how hard you work on your big sis job; and Kara…" she smiled, "that eating regular ice cream machine doesn't like to be the protected one, but the protective one too; I know it's hard for you to accept the fact she's willing to do anything she can to save others, cause you feel like a sisterly failure when it's out of your hands; nevertheless, if I were in her position, after losing everything, I would do what I need to in order to stop losing people in my life. My point is, you can't choose for Kara, neither should you feel bad for every decision she takes. Bad things happen, Alex; even when we try so hard to avoid them, or when we don't want them to happen. Yes, you and Supergirl are family, but you're also a team on the field. Despite what happens, you two always fight to stay together at the end, because both rely on one another; and you know better than anyone how much you mean to your sister; right now, she's fighting to stay with you. Any of us would fight to stay with you."

"She's right." Jeremiah was standing on the feet of the bed.

Maggie kissed Alex's cheek and left to make space for her father to come. Jeremiah wasted no time, and embraced his daughter in a warm hug, rocking her and whispering sweet words in her ear. "She woke up."

"What? She just went out of surgery."

"Most of the med supply was gone, Krytonian's too. But somehow, your mom made something for Kara's surgery with the resources we had; it's not as strong as what we normally use on your sister, but it does the job; except it doesn't last as long, thus she woke up moments after the surgery; she's under painkillers now, but she's awake. We'll give her another dose to put her to sleep…"

"Then why are you here? Go help mom…"

"I came for you. She refuses to go to sleep without making sure you're ok. She's been asking for you since she woke up."

…

"Piece of cake." Winn complimented himself. Guardian, Maggie, and Mon-El around the table.

"So it's done?" Asked James.

"Yeah, a squad is on its way. I tracked the location where Alex sent the stolen intel; all the way until its final destination. Which reminds me of that movie, now I feel like being watched, like what if I was meant to die and since I didn't…"

"Winn. Dude, chill, you're ok." Guardian placed a hand on his shoulder to shake the IT guy a little bit.

"What about Lena Luthor? She said she would work on revealing the truth about Cadmus." Said Mon-El.

"Oh, I helped her on it too." Cleared Winn. "The hack went both sides, so when I got to retrieve our intel, I got access to Cadmus and a bunch of information regarding the presumed saving the city operation; problem was, the set up plan for their 'Super Cadmus to the rescue' entrance was explained; each of their teams was in their system too, so I handed them to Lena; which she took to divulge from an anonymous source…"

"Which veracity has been confirmed without compromising LCorp." Maggie finished the sentence. "The NCPD has a mute Lillian Luthor; but we also got a few agents and it hasn't been hard at all to reinforce information with their testimony."

"How are you so sure we can trust her regarding Supergirl's identity?" Asked Mon-El.

"What do you mean?" Maggie looked at him. "What about Kara?"

"While we were stopping the hacking…" Started to explain Winn. "Alex was fighting Kara; Eliza tried to stop her, and there was a 'She's your sister' line in their talk; I could hear it. Lena changed the speed in her typing for a second, so I assumed she heard it too. She knows Kara and Alex are sisters."

Maggie took a deep breath to calm down her thoughts, which started to run on possible scenarios in which Lena would reveal Kara.

"I talked to her." Winn wasn't a mind reader, but he saw the worry look on the cop's face. "But it was a quick chat; she looked sort of sad, confused and… relieved. "He frowned. "Anyway, she agreed to remain silent until having THE TALK with Kara; I might not know Lena Luthor really well, but I do know she keeps her word. Seems like dealing with family issues is her priority right now."

"I hope you're right." Sighed Maggie. "I'll keep an eye on her, just in case."

…

Alex refused to use a wheelchair, so her dad supported her until they reached the room Kara was in.

Before opening the door, Alex put resistance on moving forward, making both to stop. "What's wrong, honey?" Asked Jeremiah.

"I don't know if I'm ready. I can't hide emotions right now, dad." She hesitated. "How is she?"

Jeremiah looked at her with those trustful eyes she knew; those she remembered full of honesty and understanding. Whatever she would hear next, it was the truth.

"She is bruised, pale, her thigh and torso are covered in bandages. It's hard for her to speak out loud since her lung is recovering, so we have a machine supporting her to breath. Sometimes she drifts into unconsciousness, but she's resisting it, so she comes back." He smiled at her and gave her daughter a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "It reminds me of that time she faced a lighting storm for the first time; she couldn't sleep until you joined her. Again, she's waiting for you."

From everyone Alex thought would be better company for Kara right now. She concluded to be definitely at the bottom of the list.

When they entered the room, Eliza's tired face welcomed her, but tiredness wasn't a problem for her mother, because she was giving her a warm smile while walking towards her, arms wide open to receive her. Above Eliza's shoulder, Alex saw the figure on the bed, exactly how her father had described to her a minute ago.

"Everything is set to sedate her. Just push the button to release the dose when you both are ready." Said the blonde scientist in a low and soft voice. "You want us to help you to get to her?"

"No, I'm fine."

"We'll go check on J'onn, but we'll stay close in case you need anything, sweetie. I love you."

"I love you too, mom." Eliza pulled back, kissed her cheek and walked out of the room with her husband.

Stumbling, Alex made it to Kara's bed. It was hard for her to take her sister's hand, it looked like anything would hurt Kara, any movement would be painful, but when her fingers finally touched Kara's skin, the Kryptonian's hand reacted and grabbed hers, giving her a weak squeeze.

"You came…" If not because Alex was next to her, she wouldn't have listened to what the blonde said. Her voice sounded exhausted, as if it was a huge effort for her to speak, and the mask on her face didn't help much either.

Alex sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her sister's body.

"Stop…" Said Kara. "It wasn't y-you..."

"I was so scared, Ka… I-I felt like an opened book; he saw everything, I wanted him to stop; I felt naked and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Then I did this to all of you… I wasn't strong enough to fight him back." She gulped. "I'm so sorry, Kara. I didn't want to…"

As Kara felt a tear against the hand Alex was holding, she tried to move her arm.

"What are you doing, Kara? No, stay still… you shouldn't…"

"You need a hug."

"You shouldn't move."

"Lay with me."

"There's not room for me in this bed… and don't you dare to try to move, you could hurt yourself."

"Eliza left a bed for you somewhere in the room… I h-heard her say that." Her voice faded as if she started to fall asleep, but she blinked to stay awake.

Alex looked around until she noticed the bed placed next to a wall. "I can see it. I can't put it next to you though; mom will come to check on you later. You need to rest now…"

"I shouldn't have left you alone in the DEO. I'm sorry too." Alex didn't expect to hear something like that.

"No, Kara… you had to go. It's not your fault…"

"It isn't yours e-either."

Alex couldn't reply to that. She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and deposited a kiss on Kara's forehead.

"You're my sister, and I love you. No matter what." Mumbled Kara and a wave of warmth surrounded Alex when she heard the same words she once said to Kara, after Supergirl had acted under the influence of red kryptonite; when she wasn't in control of herself. Only Kara could provide such warmth to her heart. "Please stay with me." It seemed to be harder for her to breath now.

"Shh… easy. I'm here for you, Kara." Alex pushed the button. "Always."

"I wanna g-go on vacation." Came out of nowhere.

"What?" Alex pulled herself back a little.

"But this time on a plane, I… I want… spend time wi… you." Her words slurred.

"Who would want to be that long with a silly alien?" Joked Alex.

"You…"

"Me." Accepted the older sister. "I'd love to." Alex smiled. "We'll plan it all when you wake up again. We need time for us, don't we?"

"Just us…" Nodded Kara, with a smile under the mask, until Alex stopped feeling pressure in her hand, proving her sister had fallen asleep.

The agent lifted the limp hand to kiss the back of it. "Thank you." She whispered.

Kara didn't reply; however, the smile lingered on her face.

 **THE END.**

* * *

 _I could write a whole new fic filled with 'Thank you(s)' To each of you who read this story, who liked it, who shared it, who left either kind words, ideas, thoughts, and feedback in reviews/comments for me: THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH! Each time I've written something for this forum, you guys had always welcomed it, and you have to know how encouraging you are, how supportive, and how I appreciate your time with all my heart._

 _P.S. I've been having this idea of a one-shot fic for a while and I've decided to post it soon. I'm excited about typing it now! But be warned guys, it's a tragic one… a really tragic one, thus see you soon!_

 _Thank you! Did I mention how thankful I am? Haha just kidding, I wanted to say thank you one more time._


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